Living in Reality
by TegzTsinelas
Summary: Living in a new world was something that Kakashi had not expected, he faced struggles that he didn't want to experience again...like puberty. This is his reality now, but being a shinobi, he's bound to face some trouble on his way. Sequel to "In a New World."
1. Chapter 1

**AN/ Sorry for the untimely hiatus of my story, I was lost in the path of life, suffice to say. Anyway, long story short, I finally graduated, got a job in the wedding industry, which means that I have lots of free time depending on how many clients will be wed every month. Needless to say, I am back in the writing business!**

**As for the story, yes this will be revamped, since I lost track of the plot, I am redoing the story starting from chapter 31 some parts will be edited out but it will be familiar enough to some of the readers, since after reading the first thirty chapters I have no heart to change any of them. Mostly because I reread the whole thing and had a bout of sentimental affection to those chapters, aside from the grammatical errors, of course, speaking of those, I have no beta and admittedly I might do the same mistakes (Even after graduating that habit still affects me so yeah)**

**Since chapter 1-30 of 'In a new world' will now be considered as an introductory phase. (I might be planning a trilogy) This continuation will be mostly filled with pre-teen to teenage years of Kakashi, and I still have no solid plot but I promise, I will finish this story to the best of my abilities.**

**Also for the new readers! Just a heads up this is Part 2 of the fic In a New world, so you better read that first one just to get an idea what this story will be all about.**

**Note of counterparts:**

**Samantha Glass - Tsunade**

**Sherry - Sakura**

**Tenrou - Tenzo**

**Sohpie - Anko **

**Tobias - Obito**

**Reyn - Rin**

**Shin - Shino**

**Anyway on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Four years, Kakashi thought as he stared at his attire, gone were the shorts and the vest of his elementary days, he was now wearing the full-fledged uniform of the middle schoolers, jacket, and all that jazz. Ironic, since the uniform was given to him just a week before being told he was graduating from middle school. Something that Miss Glass, conveniently forgot to mention to him after finishing the year-end exams.

Yes, he somehow managed to _graduate_.

He did thought he might still remain in middle school for another year at most considering that he has an irregular schedule.

"It feels longer." Kakashi hummed reminiscing his school days as he fumbled his tie loosening the knot wide enough not to give paranoia that someone will strangle him with it.

The news of his graduation was abrupt and he fondly remembered how his parents reacted at the email that the school had sent to them, Tamashi was ecstatic and Sakumo was partly proud and confused, after all, he's an irregular student and honestly, they have no idea how he managed to graduate without any warning. Needless to say, they paid a quick visit to Tsunade's counterpart to get the full explanation.

Miss Samantha gave a quick apology at their entrance and explained that he is valid to graduate middle school since a majority of his subjects were on that level, and the elementary subjects were now considered as supplementary classes aside from his Tech class, which counts as a major subject. In short, he managed to butcher the school's system bad enough with his scheduling that the only way the teachers can asses whether he was fit to be graduated was by the units he finished. With his Saturday Tech classes, Kakashi manage to pull up his units from breezing through every lesson, managing to rack up 75 units along with others he had taken in the middle school, enough amount to pass the requirements for him to be considered in the graduating class, but sadly not within the top ten- honestly Kakashi was glad for that, more anonymity.

Still, it was redundant, Kakashi sighed at that thought, surely most would note of a nine-year-old graduating middle school.

"Well as anonymous as a 9-year-old genius I guess." he mused as he took off his tie, grumbling at the sight he wore it again and tried to retie the knot.

A small mechanical release of air made his head turn in the direction and he saw his mother entering his room.

"Kashi-chan are you ready?" Tamashi asked him as she stepped inside, looking at him with eyes filled with pride.

Kakashi glanced at the failed knot in his tie, after sighing he gave up and replied. "Aa."

"Mou, Kashi it's your graduation, don't you think it's fitting to wear your tie properly?" Tamashi asked.

"Nope," he answered.

His mother shook her head in exasperation. "I knew it. Come here, Kashi," she said gesturing at him to come closer.

Kakashi rose a brow, but followed nonetheless, when he stopped before his mother, Tamashi pulled his necktie off and dangled a new one before him.

"You're pretty much stubborn about not properly wearing a necktie, so I borrowed one of dad's clip-on." she smiled and leaned over to him to attach the necktie but suddenly paused. "Honestly, why didn't I just bought your clip-on ties in the first place?"

"I wonder why." Kakashi mused blandly and his vision was suddenly covered by his hair as Tamashi ruffled it.

"None of that cheek, mister." Tamashi chided and let out a giggle as she saw how much she messed his hair.

"Maa, now I have to redo it again," Kakashi whined and began combing through his locks. There was nothing to redo actually, his hair was spiky as ever but that won't stop him from playing along with his mother's teasing.

"Well, at least your uniform is complete." his mother grinned.

"Hey Dad!" he called out as he saw Sakumo in his peripheral. "Matching ties," he said tugging the clip-on in front and gave the two a beaming smile.

"Huh you finally did it, honey." his father smiled and Kakashi rose a brow when he saw the man subtly hide something behind his back.

"Did what?" Tamashi asked in confusion.

"Clip-on ties," Sakumo stated knowingly. "It took you what? Four years?" he teased and got a slap on the shoulder.

"Don't gang up on me boys." his mother said. "I happened to be in charge of the celebratory dinner. Keep this up and both of you are going to eat in the fast-food joint."

Kakashi and his father shared an alarmed look, both of them were a pretty much-eating balanced diet. Kakashi due to his past life- kept an eye on what food he's eating, well...except when Tamashi was cooking. His mother cooked breakfast that was made up of heavy food. Since he never had a taste of his mother's cooking in the past life, he would gladly eat it no matter how much his stomach would ache later on.

Sakumo, on the other hand, had begun checking what food he would eat after that fainting incident. Kakashi didn't know whether it was because of the promise or because of his aunt's threats- Aunt Tsuna's threat was very detailed, by the way- that Sakumo made a one-eighty turn on his food intake. At least Kakashi had finally got a comrade that has the same culinary interest as him.

Tamashi...meanwhile was the epitome of high metabolism, let's leave it to that. Talking about a woman's eating habits was a taboo. Even the author was afraid to write it.

"We're stopping," Kakashi said raising both of his arms high, his father followed suit though he only raised one arm.

Tamashi giggled at the silly act and gave a Sakumo a nudge. "Well, before we go, we have something for you Kashi."

"Hmm?" he offered with a raised brow.

"A graduation gift." his father answered and revealed their presence.

There was no wrapping since it wasn't Holidays but Kakashi couldn't care less, because as far as he can see his gift was handmade. He was not picky when it comes to gifts although he preferred something practical in his everyday life. Clothes were more often than not -since well, he couldn't ask for kunais and shurikens could he?- and by some chance that he got gadgets it would more likely end up in a box under his bed.

"A scarf?" he breathed looking at the knitted navy blue scarf with a curious eye.

"You like it?" Tamashi asked.

"Aa." he nodded and took hold of the scarf and felt the thin threads that made it up, at one end of the scarf Kakashi let out a laugh when he saw a heno-heno-moheji.

"Good, because dad made it...well most of it."

Kakashi almost dropped the scarf at the revelation, his dad made this!?

"What?" Sakumo asked a flush of red on his cheeks. "Why are you so surprised about this?"

'Perhaps shocked was a better word.' he thought. "...You knit?"

Tamashi laughed. "After Miss Glass' call about your graduation, we decided to give you a handmade gift, something that we hadn't tried before."

"So knitting?"

"Yep, we played rock-paper-scissors. The winner gets to buy the supplies and the loser would do the knitting. As you can see, dad lost and he surprisingly found it relaxing."

Kakashi didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the image of the infamous Hatake Sakumo was now holding a pair of knitting needles instead of the White Fang. Still...

"Thank you," he said with an eye-smile.

"Saa, you deserve it, besides I knew someone in here is camera shy," Sakumo replied and gave him a wink.

Kakashi blinked but didn't disagree, instead, he wore the scarf and did it a way that would cover his lower face.

"It's comfy," he commented and felt a pair of hands ruffling his hair.

Their little moment was disrupted when Kuro entered his room, in its hands was a neatly folded toga and the odd squared hat on top of it. The three of them looked at the object with different expressions, Tamashi was getting teary-eyed and Sakumo was wearing a proud look, he, on the other hand, looked at it with something akin to resignation.

"Maa...this makes me feel old," he muttered.

"Kashi, don't say it like you're thirty or something," Tamashi commented with a giggle

"You still have high school and college graduation," Sakumo added.

"This still makes me feel old...too old to be precise," he whispered the last part.

After all, if you strip out the other factors, the only thing that would be left was seeing a nearly forty-year-old veteran shinobi, a feared ex-ANBU and Sixth Hokage... graduate from middle school.

* * *

Elana snorted as her son landed on a thin branch...again, her ears twitched as the familiar sound of Arashi falling on the ground echoed in their clearing, which was soon followed by a whine. She watched as Arashi tried again jumping on the lower branch and gaining height as he hopped from one tree to another.

She snapped her muzzle, warning her pup that he's going to land on a thin branch...again. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to heed it in time.

Elana hid her face under her paws as another fall echoed. She knew that Arashi can master tree hopping, but her pup was easily excited and when he's excited, Arashi tends to miss a lot of things. Like the branches, the cues during their hunt, the branches and sometimes even the ground. Oh, and the branches.

Honestly, she doesn't know which of the two males in their pack was the oddest one...no, wait...never mind that part, Silver would always get that title hands down.

Silver was the name they gave to the odd human they took in. Besides, if he gave them names it was right to give him one right?

Elana could vividly remember the first time they met Silver. It was a month after she gave birth to her pup and four months after she migrated to this area. Before that, she was kicked out of the pack that the humans had dropped with. However, being an anomaly was something those canines couldn't take, they tolerated her presence for a time. But mating with one of them was the last straw it seemed as it was the reason why she became a lone wolf.

But back to the story, she had decided to mark the area so other predators would know that there was a new one and also because...well she's a polite canine. The bears didn't like of course and they began to hunt her, it was fortunate that time that they didn't know the existence of her pup and Elana had easily defended herself. That was until one-day curiosity got the better of Arashi, the bear that attacked him was the biggest one she had met so far, although size doesn't matter when she saw it swiping at her child. With a ferocity that she never knew that she had, she fought the bear and killed it.

Still, the fact that her child was wounded worried her after all, saliva couldn't heal that level of injury in such a short time. It was then then that the human came, her instincts blared in alarm that day when she felt that odd energy in the human. It was that reason why she didn't outright attack the boy, as far as she could tell the human was nothing like the other that experimented on her or the ones that saved her.

That energy was an unknown factor, one that made her shift in a defensive state.

She growled and bared her teeth at the boy, warning him and telling him to leave, but the human was stubborn. When the boy said he could help and Elana could only think of the white room that she recuperated in. Of course, she didn't like that, if help was bringing her son to the humans then she would rather kill herself to even allow it.

However, the human did something odd, he cut his hand with a sharp stone. And when the smell of blood reached her nose she stopped growling. The question of why was clear as the day. But the boy told her to watch and watch she did. The boy held out his uninjured hand and slowly a green glow began to appear, emitting that odd energy she felt. It was by far the weirdest thing she saw and her curiosity was piqued when the boy brought his hand to his injury and she watched as the wound began to stitch itself, healing at a slow rate and by the end of it, it was closed. No blood, no scar, it was as if the cat wasn't there, to begin with.

It was then she knew how the human could help them. It was a long debate on her part but with the health of her son on the line, she made a decision that changed everything.

For months that they spent their time with the human they got to know him more, his oddity more so, as more often than not they saw him dancing in the clearing, kicking and punching the air with grace and strength. Other times the boy would breathe fire and water, shake the earth and hold the lightning. It was an amazing sight but she knew enough just by the damage alone that it was better for them to be out of the clearing when the boy does that. The human could also make copies of himself and walk on every surface she could think of. The last one greatly interests her, it was the reason why she had begun training that skill until she mastered it.

There were times that the human would disappear at days and come back at a later date, Elana knew that the human had a pack of his own... A human pack to be precise and she was slightly jealous of it because you can't call a pair of wolves a pack, can you? When the boy had disappeared for months, she was worried that the human won't come back, until one day he did. It was also that day that she finally noticed the longing look in the boy's face when he stood alone in that clearing, and she knew...she knew that the boy wanted a pack of his own, not a human pack but a wolf pack.

Elana couldn't even stop herself from not allowing it, because she, wanted a pack too.

She found out, in time, that they were nearly similar in every aspect despite being different species. She and the human were an anomaly of their own, they were both different from their species. She, because of the experimentation she got through and Silver, because he can do something that regular humans could never do.

Years passed by, the two of them had become comfortable with the boy's presence to point that they allowed him to join their hunt. It was there that, Elana realized that Silver was a great hunter, he made plans and taught them codes to make each of their hunt a hundred percent success. It was the reason why her territory widened.

However, just recently, Silver had let out this dark aura that made their hackles rise. Elana knew that moment that something was wrong, so she began to observe Silver until she knew why. The reason was simple enough, it was the animalistic urge to kill, an urge that she was very familiar with during her experimental days. A lot of 'prison mates' had lost their battle to control their urges and more often than not they were killed because of that.

The only remedy that she could think of was to let it loose, they weren't in prison so it was okay for the human to release it. The problem was where he would lose it.

Elana had scoured the areas out of their territory that has an apex predator that would challenge Silver and consequently one close enough that they could take over. She did find one, but she didn't like who the apex was. It was The Cat, one of the successful experiments back in her days. Despite their differences, Elana did have a camaraderie of a sort with the feline.

She was surprised when she met the mountain lion on one of her patrols a year ago, more so when she realized that the cat was different, the reason why she didn't like her was that the mountain lion had succumbed to the urges and was already a lost cause.

It was a hard decision but The Cat needed to die, her ecosystem was dying from overhunting and soon enough the feline would find other territories to hunt on and Elana doesn't like the idea of her hunting in her turf.

With that decided, Elana related her plan to the human and Silver quickly said yes. After she leads the boy into The Cat's territory she was admittedly worried about Silver, he was still a human after all. When the time limit was up, her worries were for naught, she followed the scent of the boy and she looked at the destruction that they -he- had caused. Tongues of fire scattered about along with splinters of branches on the grasses, there was a segment of the ground that turned into spikes and there were blood splatters on the trunks.

Thankfully, she knew whose blood it was.

Minutes later, she found Silver in one of the clearings, his arm was lodged deep into the chest of The Cat, the feline had a lot of slashes in it's hide and the tail was cut in half. She didn't bat an eye on the feline's death, because there was something that took the majority of her attention. It was the dark aura that shrouded Silver was so oppressive that Elana shivered, it was discerning how much destruction that Silver could do. When the boy slowly pulled back his hand, Elana could only watch warily as the human looked at his blood-soaked limb.

There was a moment where she felt an air of satisfaction from the human but as the seconds passed by it ebbed away. The process was slow and as if a switch was turned, Silver sighed withdrawing the tension in his body. Elana gave the human a few minutes to compose himself before she showed her presence by barking at the boy. Conveying to Silver to return to the clearing to rest and wash the blood out while she started marking their new territory. The boy wearily nodded at her order and swiftly hopped back into the trees.

During her marking, Elana had noticed something that made her freeze.

A drone, something she had been familiar in her past…misadventures. Thankfully, it looked to be just newly arrived.

There had been humans scouting in the area, something that she missed despite her senses. Caution took over her for the next three hours as she methodically stalked the gadget until it reached her sense of smell, the moment the scent of the drone reached her nose, her hackles raised and made her blood boil. It was the scent of blood and death, something she wished she would never smell again. But here it was, a reminder of her past, with viciousness she destroyed the drone with a swipe of her blade and watched it fall towards the earth.

It continued on for months, one after the other, the drones vary in their quantity but she took her time to destroy them whenever they caught a whiff of it. She did have half a mind to tell the human about this but the boy seemed tired. Silver once told them about the tournament and some 'volleyball' training. Taking a bit of pity, Elana decided not to tell Silver until she was sure that he won't look like a scarecrow. One time during their self imposed mission, they met Silver, she would have told him about the drones since it might be the right time. But it wasn't, the boy was with the humans and a hasty retreat was more important than telling him about the news.

Now, one week had passed since their unexpected meeting and Elana was annoyed at the long disappearance of Silver. What was taking the human so long to visit them? Even sending a copy would help them relay the information.

Elana winced as another fall echoed. She eyed Arashi and saw her pup nursing his muzzle. Elana let out a snort, well watching her pup would make her entertained enough for the time being.

* * *

Kakashi huffed as he stood on the stage, the mirth of the graduating student body was visible, especially the crowd that a certain blond onii-chan was part of. It was weird when graduation practice had started and the Taijutsu seniors were there, Kakashi had planned to get some space after the club camping trip as to get an 'emotional impact' when he'll meet Naruto at their graduation saying another tearful goodbye. As it was, with him attending the graduation practice, Naruto had taken the time to announce- or rather bragged- his 'Onii-chan' title every time he was near him. Suffice to say Kakashi was not amused as the majority of the females cooed at the attention given to him by the blond.

It was embarrassing, to say the least.

Although the current dilemma he was in right now might top that experience, as it was, the crowd before him was containing their laughter as the announcer kept saying his name, despite him being already on stage. He was nearing five feet for kami's sake he's not that short to be looked over, right? Glancing at his right he finally noticed how tall the podium was and huffed, with just a quick look, he knew that the size and angle of the podium would render any speaker to have a blind spot on his position.

His name was once again announced and with a mischievous eye smile, he placed a silencing gesture towards the crowd and promptly sat at the bottom of the stadium, with this he was fully hidden from the speaker and honorary people on the stage. The crowd was rather enjoying the bafflement of the people on stage as they looked at one another. Kakashi heard his name announced three more times before one of the students guffawed at the absurdity.

It was at that point that Miss Glass took the cue to finally take pity at the announcer who was probably confused and frazzled at the reaction of the crowd.

"Kakashi Hat-" His name was cut off and Kakashi knew that the flustered speaker finally got the memo.

Staring up, Kakashi looked at the speaker, when the man peeked over the podium. The man fumbled at the sight and with a quick hushed conversation ("You didn't tell me he was short!")- in which the crowd finally reacted with a laugh- with Miss Glass, the man finally proceeded with his speech, listing his accomplishments and other titles he had gotten and never remembered.

Hiding an eye roll, Kakashi waited for the last line- the cue that he could finally move from his spot. A lot of people clapped at his achievements, noting that Naruto and Sherry's voices were the loudest, followed by the hollers of his mother and aunt at the edge of the crowd, how the two females manage that Kakashi has no idea, they were in the high school gym, the place was big enough to have at least three more graduation ceremonies. However, after grabbing his diploma and posing for a picture, Kakashi took the chance to glance at his mother's area and gave a pitying look at the crowd before Tamashi and his Aunt Tsuna. Based on the hand covered ears, the two female's voices must be reaching critical levels.

Kakashi gave a cheery salute at the crowd and walked down from the stage.

_~Shift_

Kakashi hummed as he idly stepped aside, letting the square hat pass him and hitting the bum of a student behind. The hats were supposed to be thrown upwards and not like a frissbee, he heard the complaints of the poor victim and being a helpful soon to be high school student, he pointed at the offender.

He watched as the two teens banter one another, pulling at each other's cheeks all in good nature.

Aside from the pinching, the end of graduation was filled with hugs, kisses, and words of congratulations, well at least for his older peers anyway. He was yet to be tormented by thos-

"Kashi!"

"Nii-chan!"

'Ah...spoke too soon.' he thought lamely as a pair arms took hold of his extremities. He froze and with will power reeled back the instincts to defend himself.

Why couldn't they just appear before him? And not on his blindside. For three years he had come to know how much troublesome it was when every single being around him has very, very low chakra. Not that he wasn't aware, who was where and what they were doing, but there's a thing called 'hair-trigger' and he doesn't want them to '_trigger_' it now, do we?

Pushing a minuscule amount of chakra on his feet, Kakashi braced himself. Tenrou had grabbed hold of his arm while his mother was squeezing the air out of his scarf with her...assets.

Other women would have been okay, but she's his mother for kami's sake and that's one step too far from the line.

"Aunt Tama, your son is tapping out." Sasuke provided helpfully with a smirk- not that Kakashi could see.

"...Tapping out?" his mother asked.

"Honey." that was his father's voice. "Uh, you won already...so -uh... our son?"

"You're suffocating your son." his aunt deadpanned.

"Oh...Oh!" Kakashi breathed in as he was finally released and stopped patting his mother's shoulder. "Kashi-chan- I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

Kakashi coughed -just for the extra drama- and gave the group an eye-smile. "Aa...I think I'll live until my highschool graduation."

_~Shift_

The post-graduation dinner celebration was a reminisce of the ones that he -rarely- attended back in his old life. Which were filled, smiles, laughter, cheers, teasings and all other rowdy activities that would result in some broken bottles or plates and sometimes dragging a drunken shinobi on the way home. Not that he was doing the dragging, he had most of the time read his book throughout each celebration that his colleagues blackmailed/threatened/forced him to join, he did drink, not enough to knock him out but enough to get that almost buzzing feel.

Some would have said that his intake wasn't enough, but Kakashi was more than entertained when a majority of those 'some' -usually Asuma- would come out of the bar in such a drunken haze that they would be flirting with a pole for thirty minutes straight.

To Kakashi alcohol was mostly the reason why every shinobi mini-celebration was wild. To say that he was surprised at how wild the post-graduation _without_ alcohol was an understatement.

It all started like everything else. Normal.

They -Taijutsu team, and some family friends- waited for their food without a fuss as most of them were asking him about his expectations for a soon to be high school student and for curiosity sake he picked on some bits that interested him, the teachers, the lessons, the rumored special projects and other dramas that the tertiary level would entail. Some of them were interrogating his aunt about her life which had become the main topic since most of his answers were purposely blithe. Aside from that, there was one major bit that he managed to raise his eyebrows. It was Tobias and Reyn, the two of them -along with Tsunade's counterpart- were invited for their post-graduation party and it took him a few more seconds to get the gist of their current status. He was happy to know that they're slowly getting back to their old selves.

The rest of the wait, nothing unusual happened. Though Kakashi knew that it won't be long before the other shoe drops.

It did drop, when the food had arrived did the tolls of chaos sounded. The group had been immediately divided into two, while the rest of the group started to eat their meal, Sophie, Naruto and surprisingly Iruka were watching him like a hawk. Because of one thing.

His scarf.

Somehow, somewhere, somewhen...and in a series of unfortunate events, the celebration turned into a food fight. It started from a simple fall of a glass of juice that Sophie accidentally toppled over, which consequently soaked Tenrou. Somehow in just seconds, that little accident had escalated into a mini food fight between the two. Of course, no one could escape when two kids were smudging one another with sauces were beside them, it took exactly three seconds for Iruka and Naruto to join in. Somewhere along with the fight, his aunt decided to stop the four but in a perfectly cliche result, she was the one who took the biggest and healthiest hit.

A bowl of salad on her face, courtesy of the blond prankster. There were twenty seconds of silence when all eyes on the table looked at the woman in horror and amusement, the latter was vocalized by his father with wheezing of his laughter. Not to be the only one to be laughed at, his Aunt Tsuna decided that another adult victim was needed and as everyone expected the woman evilly dropped her hand in a bowl of ramen -Naruto's face was of pure agony at that second- and threw the noddles directly at his father's face.

Kakashi nearly had a heart attack when his father -who still had his mouth open- began to choke on the noodles. Thankfully, his mother immediately dislodges it with a whack on his back, while doubling on laughing at her husband. Sasuke joined along when the raven saw Naruto's distressed yet comical look as the blond looked at the ramen bowl in horror. It was there that everything downhill...or uphill...as the rivals began to throw food at one another, heedless if they had hit their target or not.

Fish, rice, vegetables, noodles even the hardboiled eggs were thrown without care, even accidentally hitting other customers. Surprisingly, the customers joined the fray and somewhen in those continuing minutes, the staff began to pull out pies out of their kitchen and began giving the ammunition to whoever was close by, and consequently exchange the foods with the desert without anyone noticing it- well except him of course. Also, it was a thoughtful act since the staff had quickly taken their breakable plates, bowls, and glasses back in the kitchen to prevent a real accident from happening.

Interestingly as the minutes passed by, Kakashi saw a clear distinction between the food fighters. Of course, it wasn't surprising to who had led each 'team', the infamous rivalry of Indra and Amaterasu seemed to have traveled in this world too. Which was thankfully not as 'world-changing' as the one in his previous life...it was just messy... in a culinary sense. In no time, the line between the groups was clear and it was then that a game was born.

'Dodge Pie'

...

No comments on his part but the game was simple. The same rules apply, but the only difference was that no one can catch the 'ball' the only way to win the game was to be faster, nimbler and have a really good arm to throw the pies.

...All of this happened, just because of his scarf.

He didn't know what to feel about that. Though, at the moment he was happily eating his meal by the sideline -with his scarf lowered of course- cheering at his nii-san and family and laughing when his father got a direct hit on his face.

"Maa, graduating isn't so bad after all."

* * *

"Have you found it yet?" An annoyed voice demanded, grabbing the laptop's screen and pushing in back.

Shin slapped the man's hands away with annoying sound. "Shut it Kiba, just be patient for once yeah? I had ten drones in my command and that 'prospect' of yours destroyed half of it, I don't need your grumpy ass hovering my neck. You'll have a much better view, idiot." he nagged glaring at his cousin.

"Oh fuck you, this grumpy ass just found out that his fighter is dead! I can be grumpy as much as I can!" Kiba yelled, kicking a chair roughly and breaking the wooden legs of the furniture.

"Oh shut up." Shin huffed and returned staring at the live feed of the drones, the visuals were bad considering that this was made from junk, he was just glad that he can distinguish trees from ground with the height of their drones. "Clear off section 4 to 7."

He eyed Kiba who touched the hologram map of the forest where they last saw the carcass of cat-mech, the segmented areas where Kiba touched turned red. A series of beeps took his attention and Shin grumbled when he saw that three of his drones were low on battery while the others were nearing their limit.

"Kiba gets the goons to section five, it's time for a battery charge," Shin announced as he maneuvered the three drones in a small clearing, he kept his eyes on the screen eyeing each one attentively, it would be bad if wolves were near and destroyed another batch. With their budget nearing their limit Shin knew that Kiba can't afford another batch of scraps., suffice to say, he's more careful of their gadgets nowadays.

"I'm the boss here Four-eyes," Kiba grumbled as he took out his phone and made a call, one annoyed conversation later, Shin saw their truck ambling through the undergrowth. Eyeing the surrounding trees, Shin deemed it safe enough to land the other two drones. A few minutes later the goons changed the batteries, and once again Shin went back to work.

Four more sections were cut off before Kiba spoke.

"You know, I'm starting to hate how intelligent our prospect is."

Noting the musing note of Kiba's voice, Shin turned his head and watched his cousin, he eyes the FlatPad on Kiba's hands and saw one of the feeds that they manage to scrounge up from his destroyed drones. It shows a single image, specifically the one where the bio mech's mouth was inches away from the camera, showing a glint of fury in its eyes.

"How so?" Shin asked as he continued his work.

"It's almost human, like a person…"

"You know Kiba, philosophy is not for you," he replied.

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean, you saw it too right?" Kiba grumbled throwing a piece of a screw at Shin's head.

"Well, what of it?" Shin finally replied.

"I dunno, I guess that using Beta operation would be risky, if it will react like a person then we should use tactics for a person." Kiba grinned showing his teeth.

"And that is…?" Shin asks.

" A Hostage."

* * *

Snippet 1. Dreams

Kakashi was odd.

A fact that anyone that knew him would agree.

Still being odd has their negative impact, Sakumo knew that he saw how Kakashi would sometimes daze off, would look at him as if he was seeing something else, would speak as if he was as old as them.

Kakashi being odd was like a norm, a part of their lives.

But the thing was…

Despite raising him, Sakumo felt that there's a part of his son that he doesn't know yet. It was a parental instinct, one that made Sakumo worry that there might be another oddity that Kakashi was not sharing with them.

His fears were confirmed when he fainted from stress and found out that that the sight of him made Kakashi emotionally wrecked for a week at least. His classmates/club mates gave them worried messages of Kakashi's behavior and Sakumo just gave a lighter version of his fainting incident and advised the kids to give Kakashi some space.

It did help somehow when Kakashi reverted to his old odd self, and Sakumo was thankful for that, promising himself to take care of his health so that his son won't be such a worrywart.

Still…the conversation they had on that day remained intact on his mind, it reminded him of the nightmare Kakashi had during their trip in the Water World and Sakumo hoped that Kakashi was not having a recurring dream of him dying.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw the door on their bedroom opening and Kakashi was standing there, eyes dazed and glimmering with tears.

'Jinxed it.' Sakumo thought bemusedly.

"Kashi?" he called out softly as he watched the boy's eyes focus on him.

"...Dad?" Kakashi replied nearly a whisper.

"Had another nightmare?" Sakumo asked keeping his voice gentle, he watched as his son blinked and a few seconds after made a small timid nod.

Sakumo wordlessly patted the space beside him, he wished Tamashi was here but unfortunately his wife has a two-day convention in the North City and won't be home the day after tomorrow. Kakashi trudged his way towards the bed and Sakumo watched as his son tucked his knees near his chest and just stared.

A beat of silence.

"You…" Kakashi started barely a whisper. "You were gone…"

Those three words made Sakumo's heart clench.

"Kashi…remember my promise to you?" he asked, as he crossed his legs and moved closer to his son. The action made Kakashi look and Sakumo softly ruffled the silver locks.

"Un."

"I'm going to fulfill that no matter what," he added, hoping that his words would be forever echoed in his son's heart. "I won't leave, _ever_."

Kakashi once again blinked, and Sakumo watched as he smiled at him but it was short and fleeting.

"I know…" Kakashi murmured. "…I know," he repeated.

Sakumo prevented himself from sighing, it was frustrating him that he could not help his son. There was stretch silence as Sakumo thought of something to add but Kakashi spoke.

"...I'm sorry." Sakumo blinked at the apology.

"For what?" he asked.

"For not being there for you."

The answer baffled Sakumo, it was only until he realized that Kakashi was not looking at him but through him that made him pause.

"I was a brat back then, too stuck up and too blind to see what was really important." Kakashi continued, his voice getting shaky by the second and Sakumo has no idea how to react.

Out of nowhere, Kakashi gave a sardonic laugh. "I guess it was karma that I ended up being alone too…I lost my best friend…my teammate and even sensei…I was all alone like you…"

Sakumo could not take in how much broken his son sounded at that moment and with one swift move he hugged Kakashi.

"It's alright, Kashi, everything is alright." he murmured and felt Kakashi's shoulders starting to shake. "I'm here now, I won't leave…" He repeated those words like a mantra until he felt Kakashi falling asleep in his arms.

_~Shift_

As Sakumo tucked Kakashi on his side, his brain was finally catching up with him, Kakashi's words were odd, was it him that Kakashi was referring to? Or was there another person he was conversing with? Who was those people that Kakashi mentioned, a best friend…a teammate and a sensei?

Sakumo gave a frustrated sigh when nothing came up.

Nothing made any sense.

* * *

**AN/ Reviews are appreciated since they are the lifeblood of this story. **

**Also I'm happy to note that I have written 3 more chapters, hoping to write two more before updating the second one. Schedule for updates...twice a month at the least, on Saturdays or Sundays, and I'm open for ideas for the snippets since I missed writing those.**

**Until next time peeps. \\(-v-)**


	2. Chapter 2

**An: Hello readers an update for every one. Check the notes down below for more info, for now, enjoy the chapter!**

**Note of counterparts mentioned:**

**Yuna - Yuugao**

**Shin - Shino Aburame**

**Robert - Jiraiya**

**Maru - Orochimaru**

**Samantha Glass - Tsunade**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Kakashi hummed as he began stretching, miffed at the realization that he woke up late, the party last night was wild- to put it bluntly- the food fight did not end after 3 hours, during that time he took all the time to observe the gameplay of the two sides, Naruto's team on the right and Sasuke's on the left, the former taking the unpredictable path (who new pie landmines were much more hazardous than throwing it?) the latter took a more creative attack (Kakashi found it really baffling how volleyball tactics works in dodge pie). Needless to say, the two sides had taken advantage of each others' weakness, with Sasuke's team jumping around throwing pies and Naruto's team sliding the pies on the floor hoping that some of their enemies might land on it.

It had ended on a good note, which was that the chefs ran out of food scraps to make the pie casing, it was good to know that food they have been throwing about was recycled.

How efficient. Kakashi idled as he took a wide stance on the ground and let his feet slowly slide, seconds later the door to his room opened just in time for Tamashi to see him in a splitting position… again. The woman tilted her head an amused glint in her eyes.

"You have quite the timing, mom," Kakashi commented as he took the time to stretch out his legs, he found the interaction a bit awkward but it's his mom.

"Mou Kashi, the first time I was early" Tamashi replied leaning at the door opening and glanced at her watch. "and I considered your morning routines this time before entering."

"Aa, I overslept," he replied stretching sideways as he grabbed his left foot holding on to it for half a minute.

"For 15 minutes?" his mother replied an eyebrow raised.

'An hour and fifteen to be exact' he inwardly mused as he repeated the action on his right.

"That is way too late," Kakashi replied with a smile, enjoying the banter.

"Says the boy who was three hours late on his first day of school," Tamashi responded. Kakashi raised his arms in a sign of defeat, but the action swiftly turned into a gymnastic move as he bent his body backward and into a handstand. With a steady exhale Kakashi lowered his legs and stood up. "But honestly, you should sleep more Kashi, lack of sleep might stunt your growth."

"Mom," he sighed, almost a whine. "I'll be beanstalk when I turn fifteen."

His mother only rose a brow. "We'll see about that in six years then." she giggled.

"Anyway, Gai-kun is here." Tamashi added in an afterthought, "Should I tell him to wait?" their conversation was cut off by a loud exclaim.

"Hah! I won!" Gai's voice echoed over the entrance and Kakashi looked at his mother in question.

"Rematch." his father's voice soon demanded.

"What are they doing?" he asked curiously.

"Arm wrestling." Tamashi simply answered with a smile.

* * *

Kakashi crossed his arms behind his head as he and Gai walked towards the familiar route towards the amusement park.

"I checked yesterday and the game was already installed!" the older boy announced with a wide grin. "Oh, and it already had a record and guess who got the first place?"

"Yuna?" he asked idly.

"Nope."

Kakashi blinked and smiled -still hidden by a surgical mask of course.

"Maa, that's...quite surprising." he mused and his brow unconsciously ticked when the boy pulled a thumbs up, fortunately, Gai didn't flash a smile.

They reached the amusement park and it was loaded. Kids, teens and even adults were crowding in each ride, the booths were brimming with challengers and Kakashi had half a mind to escape the mob, as he likes to put it, there were screams of joy and boisterous laughter in every direction he looked, and his paranoia might have gotten the best of him when his hand slowly inched towards the invisible seal in his arm.

There was a lot to take in as his mind went overdrive at the what-ifs.

"Come on, Kakashi," Gai asked in excitement as he ran up towards the area where his favorite booth was installed. The boy was pushing and weaving through the people with slight difficulty.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was using his evasion skills idly, stepping away from the hordes of kids and ducking below an arm of a teen that was throwing plastic shurikens. He gave a wave at the old man behind the stand. It didn't take long for him to reach Gai who was jumping up from behind a crowd, the boy was unable to see what was happening beyond the crowd and Kakashi rose a brow.

"It's full, maybe for another time Gai," he reasoned as he saw a glimpse of the teens and some young adults lining up before the punching game, which had taken a new name. 'StrikeFist.'

It was an unimaginative title, Kakashi mused.

"No." the boy stubbornly replied and despite taking the highest score in the game, Gai was unable to push through the thick crowd.

"Out of the way brats," a voice seethed behind them and Kakashi looked up to see chins.

Chins to be precise, Kakashi remembered the teen on the first day he joined the Taijutsu club, if anyone like a recall. The teen had gotten fatter and heavier and he got goons too.

Kakashi hummed and humored the teen, stepping aside. Gai, on the other hand, has all of his attention before the intruding crowd.

"Hey, brat." Chins sneered.

"What!?" Gai snapped glaring at the offender.

Kakashi chuckled when the fat teen flinch. Hah, the 'Green Beast' did have a shorter fuse in this world.

"Out of the way." the teen demanded and pushed Gai aside and forced through the crowd with ease, using his larger figure to his advantage. Chins' goons soon followed and the crowd relented, giving the trio a wider opening. Some of the gathered people saw trouble coming in and silently dispersed.

Gai was about voice out his protest at the manhandling, but before he got a syllable out of his mouth, Kakashi pulled the boy's arm and quickly walked behind the trio.

"Why did you do that?" Gai asked in confusion, the older boy's eyes, it seemed that they joined the teens in the demanding entrance.

"We got in, didn't we?" he answered with an eye-smile.

Gai blinked. "Oh."

Kakashi looked at the crowd and could feel growing apprehension, the reason was simple. Chins was bullying the teens lining up before the game. Challenging them and well...being a bully. A lot of the customers decided to walk out, leaving only eight people to observe the chaos. The two goons seemed to relish the 'fear' that they were creating and Kakashi shrugged.

It was insulting at best and a bit of temper rising in, however, there were two adults in the remaining eight, their presence was enough to dissuade any physical violence that might happen.

"Maa, the lines are cleared. Why don't we try it out?" he said while looking at the game.

Aside from the new name, the additional installment to the booth was indeed eye-catching. There were new lighting by the corners and the list of scores was now in a hologram instead of the flat screen. The punching bag was new, all in all, the upgrades were a welcoming sight.

Gai glance at the ruckus by the side. "You go first." the boy challenged with a grin as he pointed at the number on the number one in the list.

"Four-hundred and sixty." he hummed, the score was two pounds higher than his last record. He slowly walked towards the game, a pair of quarters already in hand.

"Hey, boss." one of the goons, and from now he's going to be called Goon1, said loudly. "One of the brats is going for it."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and continued his walk. He felt a spike of anxiousness from the onlookers and he saw some of the teens lining up earlier -the remaining ones anyway- were clenching their fists in his peripheral. How noble, it seemed that there were limits for how far bullying goes.

"Huh? Oi brat!"

He sighed and turned around to look at chins blandly. "Yes?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Chins asked.

Kakashi rose a brow. "Isn't it obvious?" he retorted with a cock of his head.

"You're going to play?" Chins chuckled and it increased into guffaws, as cliche dictates, the goons followed. "You two," he pointed at him and Gai. "Are you going to play this? You're wimps!"

"So?"

"Don't waste your energy for something you can't win." Chins said with superiority. "It's a lost cause for brats like you to even hope to get the first place."

Gai scoffed at the side and Chins' attention was directed at him. "What's so funny, eh?"

"You're saying that you could get the first place." Gai heatedly said. "Then show us...jerk."

Kakashi hid a chuckle at the whispered insult, props to Gai's counterpart, the boy's temper was amusing to watch.

"Why don't we make this more interesting." a new voice joined in and Kakashi rose a brow at the newcomer.

"Who-" Chins' retort suddenly died out when he saw who it was.

Yuna.

The girl was haughtily crossing her arms and paired with a roguish grin. Yuna looked intimidating and Kakashi saw the image of Yuugao behind the girl. Their characters might be opposite, but in terms of ferocity when it comes to fighting, the two were the same.

"How about a bet?"

* * *

"Alright!" Kiba shouted as he stood straight before the group. Behind him, a hologram of a map was displayed, showing various plot points of the land where their prospect might hide. There were five of them, three goons, him and Shin. It was a small group but they were the cheapest on the hiring list. "This will be our first contact on Prospect B, due to the untimely death of our cat bio-mech." A small blurry image popped up, it was the magnified image of the wolf at the top view, the screen then shows an approximate dimension of the canine bio-mech and a size comparison between it, a human and a regular wolf.

Kiba took his FlatPad and with a few slides, he continues. "I sent you the basics that Shin managed to scrounge up from NSO, and please note the wolf's animosity level." he gave them a few minutes to read the information before he continued.

"Now, the plotted area," Kiba started as the image zoomed in to the section of the woods where Shin managed to gather some clips of a pair of white fur lying around a nearly destroyed clearing, the image was so blurry and Shin was unable to get a closer and clearer image lest he risk another busted drone. It took them another five hours of rotating their drones to finally confirm that they finally found the den.

"This is the location of Prospect B, Tito, and Vic, you two are assigned to burn this in section 19, this is two clicks away from their den, enough distance to give you time to escape if worse come to worst," he added as Shin placed a bottle of bluish liquid on the table.

"The chemicals contained in that liquid, if burned, will render anyone's sense of smell to nothing. A side effect that will be beneficial to our plan for this afternoon," Shin added as he adjusted his glasses, "Also your fires must produce enough smoke to reach out three sections so use the wind direction wisely."

The two goons nodded and Kiba turned to the last one, Joey. "And lastly you're in charge of drone retrieval, Shin and I will distract Prospect B during their hunt and any drones that went down, you will retrieve it. Time of attack is estimated at 1300, preps will be at 11." the man gave a quick nod. Kiba grinned and clapped.

"Also make room for any on the spot changes in the plans as this is just a layout, a guideline to be exact," Shin added.

Kiba grumbled annoyed at the interruption. "So any questions?"

The goons looked at one another and Tito raised a hand as if he was in a classroom. "So…uhh, can we use the chemical before doing the plan?"

Kiba tilted his head in confusion. "Why?"

"Cuz, so we can't be smelled?"

Shin slapped a hand on his forehead.

* * *

"Yo, Yuna." he greeted with an idle wave.

"You-you know her?" Chins stuttered while pointing at the female.

"If I don't, why did I greet her then?" he asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Brat," Yuna mumbled and looked at Gai with a smirk. "Sidekick."

The girl had taken up Tenrou's nickname to the older boy. Gai didn't mind it but the name might be starting to irk him when Kakashi saw Gai's eyebrow tick.

"Sidekick?" Goon 1 whisper went ignored.

"So, how about it?" Yuna asked.

"The bet?" Gai huffed and crossed his arms.

"Uhuh." the girl nodded.

"What are the stakes?" Kakashi asked, curious.

Yuna hummed as she mused. "The loser will give up all of the money they have right now."

Kakashi and Gai shared a look, he knew that Gai only brought coins whenever they visit the amusement park and Kakashi had only got fifty bucks and a few coins in his being right now. A small loss in their case...that is, _if_ they would lose.

Chins, on the other hand, looked at Yuna incredulously, there was hesitation in his eyes and Kakashi noted that Yuna caught it too.

"And the winner?" the teen asked.

"Gets the money... and bragging rights," Yuna added. "It's fair and simple."

Chins looked at them and back at Yuna in contemplation, ever so slowly his ego began to inflate. "Fine with me."

"And you two?" Yuna grinned.

"Maa, we don't mind," Kakashi answered for the both of them.

"So, who's going first?" Gai asked, his bad mood was slowly easing to a good one.

"I am." Chins announced and stepped up towards the punching bag. "You better prepare your money, brats, 'cause you're going to lose it."

Kakashi gave the teen a bemused glance, he stepped back when he noticed that Chins was about to bump him.

"Oh, I forgot," Yuna interrupted when the fat teen was about to put his coins inside the machine. "I'll give fifty bucks whoever gets the first place."

Chins grinned greedily. "That Gai is no match for my fist," he said with confidence and dropped his coins inside.

The teen took a boxing stance and Kakashi saw Gai rolling his eyes. He agreed with the silent comment, the stance was sloppy at best. Chins paused and just stood before the bag.

"...Well? Hit it!" Yuna snapped.

Chins flinched but he followed the demand, letting out a roar as he extended his fist. There was a loud sound the second the teen's fist connected with the bag. Kakashi admits that despite the sloppy stance earlier, the punch had enough force to make the punching bag sway.

The background music blared and they watched as the score began to appear. The numbers were growing by the seconds, passing the one-hundredth mark and then the two-hundredths, three hundredth mark, when it passed, the four hundredth mark Gai was looking at him and Kakashi only rose a brow.

The numbers suddenly slowed until it reached four hundred and...thirty.

"No match, eh?" Yuna deadpanned.

"That Gai guy must be strong." Chins reasoned, typing out his name to tag with his score.

"He is." Yuna nodded and grinned at Gai. "You're up next... Gai."

Kakashi counted the seconds of silence as the Chins and his goons let the notion sink in. It was near the one minute mark before Chins reacted.

"You...You're Gai!?" the fat teen exclaimed incredulously. "This must be a joke! You're just a kid!"

Said kid glared at Chin's. "A kid that has his name in the first place," Gai muttered. "If you don't believe it, fine." he shrugged and walked towards the punching bags, which had stopped swaying.

After dropping his coins, Gai took up a stance before the bag and in seconds he composed himself. "Watch."

Kakashi watched, as Gai breathed in and with a sudden bout of speed the resounding echo of the bag being punched roared in his ears. The punch was fast and has much force in it that the bag had hit the back of the booth.

Chins and his goons' eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets at the show of power.

"The fuck happened?" a voice whispered from the small audience.

No one replied as most of the eyes were looking at the growing numbers in the hologram display. Seconds later, a strained noise escaped Chins' throat as Gai's score passed him, then the curse of disbelief was whispered as Gai's score landed on five hundred and ten pounds.

"A new record!" an electronic voice announced over the hidden speakers, it was soon followed by blaring music mixed with the booms of fireworks.

"Hah!" Gai exclaimed, feeling accomplished at his score as he typed his name. The boy had forgone bragging his new high score at Chin's and had instead given Kakashi a challenging look.

He replied with a raised brow, seemingly unimpressed- though inwardly he was. That was a big leap, he admitted.

"You better prepare Poncho," Yuna commented with a mad grin. "Your wallet is going to be empty."

Kakashi snorted at the name, Poncho!?

"Big deal." Chins seethed, fist clenched tightly by his sides. "Like that pipsqueak would reach my score."

"Doesn't Gai's score prove enough?" Yuna retorted raising a brow.

"Yeah!" Gai piped in defending himself.

"How can I believe that he's going to beat my score?" Chins retorted. "Just look at how tiny he is!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes at the insult as he dropped the needed coins.

"Size doesn't matter when it comes to these two," Yuna muttered, scowling at the unintended insult. She knew what kind of damage those two can do.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Chins replied, his face was getting redder as the seconds passed by. "Size does matter when it comes to punching."

"Then how would you explain Gai's punch?" the girl questioned.

"He-he cheated!"

"What!?" Gai exclaimed flabbergasted, a huge tick mark on the side of his head, temper rising any second.

"Yeah, that must be-"

*Bang!*

"...It."

Another silence drowned them as all heads suddenly turned towards him. Kakashi ignored the abrupt gazes that looked at him, he was busy eyeing the chain that attached the punching bag on the booth ceiling. He might have gone a bit overboard in his punch as he saw the small gap in one of the links. Kakashi sighed silently at the minor damage.

"Maa, all of you were busy bantering." he started and pointed a thumb at the booth. "So I took the liberty of finishing the bet," he added with an eye-smile. Just in time for the sound of the machine announcing a new high score.

* * *

Shin looked at his screen, eyeing the positions of the goons. Just as planned, Tito and Vic were in position as well as Joey in their reinforced truck outside of the forested area. If the plan goes well, Prospect B will be in their hands by nightfall. He glanced at Kiba who was lounging by the chair at the other side of the table, hand tinkering at the remotes of their drone. While he admits that his cousin has a foul mouth, his brain has a creative mind when it comes to traps, he sometimes wished that Kiba has some interest in chess, that ancient game could help him more when it comes to…well brainpower. But it seems that 'on the fly plans' were more of Kiba's style.

"What're you looking at!?" Kiba snapped at him, Shin blinked and looked at his cousin with annoyance.

"I was just thinking that maybe we should have a plan B." he answered.

"This is plan B, you idiot," Kiba replied with a snapped.

"A plan C then." Shin shot back nonchalantly, already used to Kiba's temper. He knew when the man would bark and when he'll bite, now, this was all bark.

"Tsk, whatever, I'll think of it just encase," Kiba muttered and thew the control at him. Shin hurriedly caught the device scowling at his cousin all the while. "But back to work, what's the status?"

"Shithead."

"Asshole."

Shin gave the finger and pluck out his headset from its perch, he tapped a key on his laptop. "Team A, what's your status?"

"We got five fires ongoing, with the given coordinates," Tito answered clearly. "We'll be adding more live plants after clearing out the next three bonfires."

"Good!" Kiba shouted over the mic. "Keep that up, report to us when you're finished!"

"Roger."

Already knowing what's the next step, Shin sighed as he grabbed the controls of the drones, five to be exact, and connected them to his laptop. Having created a program that can control multiple drones with an interactive hologram, had maximized his scouting abilities. It took him nearly a decade to get it right and the payoff was worth it, well for the first five years, it plummeted down when he helped Kiba pay off some of his debts by giving free scouting services. Needless to say, he kept more of his future programs hidden from sight.

A glow of white light flashed as the program loaded. Kiba walked up at the other side of the hologram and went back to his laptop, tapping fast as he loaded up the commands for the drone. His program has only one purpose, scouting, which means that it will fly in a coordinated route. However if some of the actions were taken, like evasive maneuvers then they'll need two persons to coordinate the movement. One of the camera angles and the other on the more intricate aspect, such as the movement and speed of the drone. Kiba was assigned to the former while he's on the latter.

Although Shin wished that the drones were not made of scraps, one wrong move and the gadget will drop like a stone.

"Batteries are at 100%, no problems on the rotors and…" Shin glance at the holograms. "Visual at 100%"

"Pfft, more like 65, this shit is blurry" Kiba commented and Shin ignored him with a long-suffering sigh.

"Taking off in 3…2…1."

* * *

Kakashi idly took a sip of his flavored tea as he listened at the banter of Yuna and Gai, while the two were not schoolmates, they had once lived in the lower sector and shared some of their stories how they manage to transfer in the higher one. Yuna's father was employed with one of the auto dealerships as their head IT department. The pay was good and they bought an apartment just in time for Yuna to enroll in middle school. Gai on the other hand had turned out to be a result of his parents divorcing (Kakashi recalled Might Dai in the lower district), while the topic was a bit heavy Gai told them that while his parents were busy finalizing the contract his aunt (Li's mother) took it upon herself to house Gai for the moment- 'to protect him from being traumatized' Gai quoted.

Either way, that topic was long finished and Kakashi silently exhaled as he leaned back in his seat, watching as the two argue on what tactic was the best when it comes to a one on one fight. Yuna being an avid brawler said that being on the offense was better as that tactic would quickly tire out the opponent. Gai, on the other hand, had chosen a defensive stance, pointing that that reactive was better than proactive.

In which Kakashi inwardly agrees, nodding silently as Gai continues to defend his choice. Taking a glance at his watch, he saw that it was nearing lunchtime. Clearing his throat, he made an eye smile at the two.

"Maa, I should better get going, I have somewhere to be this afternoon," he announced, taking out the winnings he got earlier from Chins, he hid a chuckle as he remembered how Yuna harassed the boy to give up his money because that was the bet. He placed all of the money on the table.

"What the heck kid?" Yuna asked baffled at the amount. "That's way too much for these." She added gesturing at the meal they had. It was roughly 75 bucks-considering the amount that they ate it was cheap, but all of Chins' money was almost three hundred bucks along with a handful of coins.

"Aa, you two could split the rest," he replied waving a shooing motion at money. "Treat yourself to something, a movie or whatnot."

"B-but you won that fair and square." Gai countered with a stutter.

"Yeah, and besides that doesn't seem fair to you," Yuna argued with a frown.

Biting back a sigh at the two knuckleheads, Kakashi gave up. "Alright, how about we split it?" he stared at the duo with a raised brow.

The two shared a glance and with a shrug, Yuna conceded and soon after Gai followed. After separating the money for the food, Kakashi took all of the coins and pocketed it, he gave the two a pointed look daring them to complain. Gai was halfway opening his mouth before Kakashi beat him to it.

"All I said is that we split it, I never said that it should be equal," he spoke giving the two his eye smile, clearly enjoying the annoyed looks of his friends.

"Tsk, you and your fancy wordings," Yuna grumbled, in a show of defeat she gathered the money on their side of the table. "So, sidekick, how we're going to split it?"

"Erm…equally?" Gai answered uneasily, Kakashi knew that this was the first time Gai got that large amount of money and it shows how he fumbles with his hands.

"Fine by me," Yuna answered, quickly counting the money, they got an odd dollar out and Yuna flicked it at him. "Don't complain."

"Maa, maa." Kakashi sighed as he pocketed the paper. The three of them left the restaurant and after a few stops, they went on their way, Yuna visiting some friends and Gai back on the dojo.

Kakashi frown at his pockets as he enters the lift, he shifted his position as he grabbed the coins and quietly transfers them into his other pocket. 'Should've thought that much better' he mused as he adjusted the waistline of his pants, with no belt on his attire, the coins, and his phone, weighed his pants causing it to slide down whenever he walks. It was such a hassle as ended up adjusting his pants every few blocks, not to mention the amount of noise the coins make. Kakashi cringed with each sound, it felt like he was a genin every second.

Luckily, he only needs to adjust once when the lift entered the train station. It took a few minutes for the train to arrive and Kakashi took the time to message the parents of his plan to visit Maru. Tamashi eagerly responded with a book request and funny enough his father did too. After replying, Kakashi closed the messaging app and opened a browser, with the school year being over he decided that he could divulge some of his interest.

Mind you it was not something perverted.

* * *

Elana crouched by the branches, claws digging silently into the soft bark below her eyes staring at the herd of deer just a few feet away from the treeline. She chuffed, the sound low enough that Arashi can hear it with his heightened senses, her pup was position at the other end of the clearing ready to chase down their meal to her position. Sure enough, a howl echoed in the mid-morning air, the herbivores quickly looked up in alert at the direction of the sound, and just seconds after, Arashi ran out of the treeline with frenzied glee. Like a shepherd, he directed the deer to her position, with a single bound and a swipe of her tail, they caught their meal for the day.

Ignoring the remaining herbivores, Elana gave a loud bark signaling Arashi to stop the chase. After a few minutes, the area was clear of deer and it took a few minutes of waiting until Arashi arrived with a blot of blood on his muzzle.

Elana growled annoyed that her pup still has that preference to dig up some gophers as a pre-meal snack. She huffed in mild annoyance, she swiped her tail opening the innards of the deer. With much gusto they ate their fill, leaving out the meat for an evening snack, with another swipe of her blade, Elana cut the carcass in half. Each of them took half and they began to their trek back to their den.

The forest was filled with a cacophony of sounds, from the bird along with the mating calls of one of the herbivores in their area, Elana would've had to check the birthing month in the future just to get some idea if it would unbalance the ecosystem. She took her job seriously, regulating the population of her turf, there are some carnivores in her area, including her old pack-the one that abandoned her after breaking the status quo. Needless to say despite their differences Elana manage to work out a system with the recent alpha, after all she had given them a free reign of the Cat's territory under the notion that if they manage to repopulate the area and manage the ecosystem well, they would have a free reign of the land so long as the alpha would defer to her when the need arises.

It took her a better part of the year to harass some of the animals towards the barren territory of the Cat, but they managed, the wildlife there were steadily flourishing with the wolves controlling their population.

As for their day to day life, it was a bore. Silver has yet to visit and it was almost half a month since the human wandered their lands. The boy had grown, she mused not as fast as her kind but the growth was steady, Elana could see that Silver would one day grow up to be an alpha, not in her pack not yet, but with the humans.

A snap of a branch pushed her out of her musings, spreading her claws she landed on a branch and glance back at her pup at the sound. Arashi gave a small chuff looking above with his ears twitching spontaneously. Elana followed suite, easily clearing out the forest noise, it was subtle but the familiar sound quickly made her drop the deer carcass. Two leaps later, she was bursting at the top of the trees, she extended her blade as she scanned the skies, a few meters above she saw hovering dots a familiar sight that made her blood boil. However, before she could give orders to her son her eyes caught the sight of a small trail of smoke near their den. It was not alarming to have a forest fire, and Silver usually was the one controlling its direction whenever it happened, but the human was not there.

Conflicted at whether what objective she should prioritize. Elana quickly decided. She barked at her son down below to check out the origins of the smoke and howl for any updates, meanwhile she tasked herself to put down the rest of those damned drones.

* * *

"Ahh, shit." Kiba cursed as he watched as the two canines split up. "That was not in the plan."

"Should've thought of Plan C, yeah?" Shin replied watching the mismatched canine on his screen. "Now what?"

"Contact Vic and tell them to prepare- holy shit!" Kiba panicked, his hand tapping the holograms, Shin did not need to be warned as he turned back to his laptop and saw that one of the drones went down. Fingers typing at a very fast pace, Shin replayed the clip a few seconds ago as he adjusted the height of their drones. All the while sending a message for the duo back in the forest.

"You seeing this?" Shin asked with an inch of disbelief on his voice. He watched as the bio-mech's tail snapped down on the tree branch below and somehow with a dexterity of a hand manage to flip it in the air and slapped it like a projectile towards the drones with the flat of its blade, with one of their gadgets down the canine's aim was spot on.

Shin knew it was intelligent but this was the type of intelligence that was feared, to be able to calculate the distance, angle, speed and force of- hitting the branch mid-air like some type of ball game- was absurd, scarily so.

"Better get to running," Kiba muttered as he zoomed in at one of the drones revealing that the canine had already hidden under the treetops.

* * *

Elana was happy at her hit, that was the first time she ever applied that move on her hunt. She had once seen Silver doing that with the pointy metal things, although with no hands to do the throwing, she decided that hitting a branch with the flat of her blade would do just as well. And the result was better than she imagined, maybe she can get some of her own projectiles if Silver gets to visit in the future.

She landed on the ground with a muted thump, as she began to hunt for the flying metal that she felled. It was just a few meters ahead based on their distance earlier and with a small grunt, she went back on the treetops and ripped the thing apart leaving nothing intact. She peeked out over the small openings on the leaves and saw one of them fly past by. With a grin, Elana snapped a branch with her blade and grabbed it by with her maws. Silver might be on to something when he spoke about the benefits of an ambush in combat.

_~Shift_

Arashi panted as he entered their clearing the smoke was yet to reach their home but based on the height of the smoke it must be a large fire. Shifting into a stance he howled at his mother. While he waited for a response he took through the treetop careful not to enter the smoke, Silver had once reprimanded him for being dense when he rushed through a forest fire once, and he did get the traumatized, not by the experience no, but with the afternoon-long sermon that he got from his mother and Silver. Needless to say, he was careful not to go headfirst into an unknown situation.

He trudged along the edge of the smoke and careful to hide behind the leaves as he circled towards the origin of the smoke. There were fires alright, but he could not help but growl at the sight of a human vehicle parked at the edge of the tree. He took a sniff but he found nothing, no scent maybe they left the area? Annoyed at the trespass, he slowly made his way into the small clearing, careful to inhale small quantities of the smoke as possible and keep his snout new the ground. Ears on alert as he moved around, after making sure that he was alone in the area, the visibility was awful but he manages well with just his ears and nose.

Walking through the the mess of pulled plant life, Arashi counted the number of bonfires, there were 8 though he was thankful that they were controlled and limited to this area only, with a huff he positioned himself by the side of one of the fires and began digging the soft earth, clearly aiming the dirt towards the fire extinguishing it.

He took out three more, the smoke were now slowly dissipating in the air, now it was closely resembling a weak mist. He was about to start on the next one before he heard a click.

* * *

Vic froze as he saw the large canine's ears perking up, they got the message from Shin earlier and they were about to bail out when they felt a huge mass pass by them, the smoke shifted between him and Tito nearly fainted when they had seen the white outline of a very…very… large wolf. Way larger than what he expected, its head was nearly the height of his chest, and despite a literal brush with death they managed to quietly sneak back to their vehicle and hid behind it.

And for the past minutes of watching the canine extinguish the fires, Vic took the initiative to aim a tranquilizer on the animal, there were still smoke on their side of the clearing and he was pretty sure they were hidden well enough, they had after all transferred their hiding place under the vehicle, which Tito convince him to do. Vic had taken pity at the traumatized man and gave him the phone to get some orders from their boss. The small order had given some semblance of balance back to Tito.

A sudden movement from his colleague made him jerk, hitting the tranquilizer on the chassis of their car. He froze, Tito froze and the canine froze, it's ears twitching.

'Oh god.' Tito mouthed unable to form a sound as the wolf made a turnabout and walked directly towards their hiding place. They watched as the powerful paws trudged up towards them, Vic steadied his breathing as he silently aims the tranq, however, Tito took the chance to show him the message from their boss.

-Tranq it-

That order was good enough, revitalized at the task, he aimed back at the paws but was dumbfounded when he saw that it was gone.

Suddenly a large bang echoed from above, their vehicle groaned in protest at the sudden weight, immediately Vic grabbed Tito by the collar and placed a hand on his mouth, preventing the scream from bursting out from his colleague's mouth, as the chassis of their vehicle threatened to flatten them. Silently he glared at Tito and mouth one word at him.

'Quiet'

They listened as the wolf move about on the vehicle and Vic could hear it sniffing. The canine kept on doing it, that it was nearly a pattern, move and sniff followed by a whine that Vic could only describe as being confused. This repeated for a few more agonizing minutes that Vic was sure the Tito would have an aneurysm.

The vehicle slowly groaned one last time before the weight on top of it disappeared, Vic nearly sighed in relief but it was cut off when the wolf landed before them. And began repeating the pattern earlier. He tensed as the wolf's snout neared their position and Vic was sure that their cover was already blown, and the canine was just torturing them. It smelled them earlier and was just acting all confused so it can ambush them.

Vic was nearly reaching his limits as the seconds tick by and he watched as the wolf lowered its body, ready to take a peek at the bottom of the vehicle. Vic's fingers shook by the trigger and Tito was looking like a ghost with how the blood was quickly draining from his face.

However before the canine lowered its massive a head a howl echoed in the air, causing its head to snap back. Vic didn't know if it was because he took the opening or it was because he was surprised by the sound, but one thing he knew, was that the wolf knew that they were there.

A loud reverberating bark echoed in the clearing, giving Vic and Tito with goosebumps as they scrambled back out from under the vehicle, the wolf was clearly mad as they heard the metal being bitten off at the other end of the car. They made a mad dash towards the trees, Tito letting out a wail of panic as they heard the wolf giving chase.

"I don't wanna die!" Tito screeched as ran past him like a crazed lunatic.

It would've been funny it that was not true, silently praying that his legs won't give out, Vic ran as best as he could, dodging vines and the undergrowth. It felt like hours but they had miraculously reached the edge of the forest, Tito taking the lead ran a few more meters before finally fainting. Breathing heavily Vic clicked his tongue.

"Idiot," he muttered as he stared back the shadows within the forest making sure that there was not an inch of that wolf's fur within his sight. Gulping as much air as he needed, Vic walked towards Tito grimacing at the wet patch in the man's pants he grabbed the -thankfully- dried phone and called their boss.

"Boss?" he called out shakily, still breathing heavily. "Yeah, we got a shot at the canine."

"Good, I'll get Joey to drive by your location."

"O-okay," relieved at the news, he lied down near Tito and promptly fainted.

* * *

Snippet 2: Triangle

Samantha has no patience for this, none at all. She could handle kids, teenagers heck even some entitled parents of her students. But this?

_Zero Tolerance._

Her eyes darted at Maru whose lips were pursed in what Samantha could only guess as frustration. Of course, anyone would be frustrated if Robert was in the vicinity, more so when said man was flaunting that he got a date with her twice in a month. Samantha had told him a dozen times that this was not a date, they were just going to meet-up because Naruto would be interning under his department in the FireLeaf Robotics, nothing else.

They had bumped into Maru who was just turning around the corner, arms filled with supplies, and a head filled with thoughts. Samantha managed to say a greeting before Robert flaunted his, well his achievement (which was childish at best, like a kid showing off a test score). Samantha knew Robert well enough that all he said were just glibs, but she also knew the Maru has no idea that Robert was just running his mouth.

"Robert." hiding her seethe behind a smile. "Could you shut up for a minute?"

"Why?" the white-haired man asked, brows raised in affront at her tone.

"Because if you keep this up I'm canceling the meet-up," she added gripping the man's bicep with enough force that Robert winced.

"Fine...fine I'll shut up." he groaned, Samantha raised a brow when an awkward silence grew between the three of them. "I..ah, sorry."

Maru gave a nod, silent and Samantha wished the redhead would speak. "Is...is he usually that shallow?"

Samantha blinked and laughed at the man's question, beside her Robert frowned. "Like a puddle," she answered shaking her head as Robert pouted.

"Alright, I deserve that," Robert grumbled as he scratched his nose.

"So what are you shopping for Maru?" Samantha asked when she got a closer look at the red head's purchase. There's a lot of spare parts as well as some cans of paint peeking out of the reusable bag.

"Oh, just some spares that were needed for the repair back in the shop," Maru replied lifting the bag. "Also have you seen Kakashi?"

"Sakumo's kid?" Robert asked eyebrows raising.

Maru nodded and Samantha let her eyes roam at the busy street looking for a path of silver hair.

"We haven't seen him," she answered and slowly worry began to gnaw on her mind. "Is he lost?"

"Oh, no, no," Maru hurriedly replied. "He's-"

"Yo." a voice greeted...from above?

Three heads looked up and they saw Kakashi peeking over the open veranda of the snack house beside them.

"What're you doing up there Kakashi?" Maru asked a slight tinge of exasperation in his voice.

"Just enjoying the show." the kid replied eyes curving up in a smile.

"What show?" Samantha questioned as she crossed her arms.

"Maa, you know..." Kakashi spoke gesturing at them with a wave of his hand. "This_ love triangle_ you three have."

"Kakashi..." she warned, but she could feel the heat growing on her cheeks.

"Sooo, who's winning so far?" the kid asked unperturbed by her warning.

"Kakashi..."

"I got two dates!" Robert gleefully answered and Samantha snapped, she stepped on the man's foot with the heel of her shoes. Robert yowled and Maru winced taking a step back.

"Get down here you brat!"

* * *

**Replies, Thank you for the reviews *\o/***

**Oguh: I'm scrapping that plot since it was just so messy and nothing made sense to me anymore. Although, I might reuse those ideas in future if there's a possibility of it being beneficial to the story.**

**entity9silvergen: Truthfully, I am not aware that there were other Shin in the Naruto-verse, so I'm just going to clarify that Shino Aburame would be the only Shin appearing in the story. If not, I'm going to give a head's up.**

**guest#1: **

**I have no plans of adding more canines in the pack. **

**There are no ninken counterparts, sadly. **

**Yes, I'm planning to borrow some bijuu for future characters.**

**As for the summons...as much as fun as that sounds, I already planned that this AU won't be having pets. But if something comes up like a gift or something along that line, I might add them in the snippet (I think Naruto already has a toad purse in 'In a New World')**

**Ai Huiyuan: **

**Kakashi already knows Elana is intelligent :) and yes he already taught them codes in the passing.**

**There's actually a lot to cover with Sakumo's relationship with Kakashi (tho nothing as out of the world as your suggestions, haha) maybe a funny snippet in the future.**

**Thank you for the review :) **

* * *

**AN: Still open for snippet suggestion! Also the 'ber months is coming in which means wedding season is closing in! I might be busy in the next months or so. Updates might be affected.**

**A question: **

**5k+ words for story and 1 snippet**

**or**

**-5k words for story and 2 snippets**

**?**

**Until next time peeps. \\(-v-)**

**Reviews are appreciated since they are the lifeblood of this story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Happy New Year everybody! Yes, this is an update, sorry for the long wait I finally got a very open schedule due to the Corona Lockdown, enough time to get some mental and physical rest (small blessings), and I gotta tell you, December was booked! January and February also has a lot of weddings (though not much at the latter) that my brain was drying up with how exhausting the travel and onsite editing are.**

**So, more author's note at the bottom, just enjoy the chapter, and a big thank you to those who reviewed.**

**I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Kakashi hummed as he held a bag of takeout, he was walking idly through the streets of Maru's town and took the chance to give another look at the area. There were more trees yet its number was more or less equal to the number of metal junks around every block. Sector 16, also known as the Junkyard Town in the lower sectors were famous for their business when it comes to re-purposing the metals that were wasted by the higher sectors, which Kakashi finds quite…quaint with how they recycle as much waste as they can. Yet despite their importance, most of the population looked down on the people who lived in these areas, like some sort of lower class.

"Just like in the past." he murmured as he stared at the pair of kids running in a backyard full of metal junk.

Sectors 15-20 were considered as lower sectors, yet despite the negative name, each sector has its unique purpose, from material recycling, waste management, and agriculture. Sector 15 handles the synthetic wastes, recycling them day by day with zero tolerance for pollution. Sector 16, the Junkyard town, as explained. Sector 17, the waste management, has only one purpose, to create compost for Sector 19-20, the Vertical Farms. The largest sector, nearly twice as wide as Sector 1 yet mostly populated by industrial robots.

The city plan was quite ingenious, always allocating and circumventing human activity within the city limits. Kakashi wished his old world has this kind of technology, more focused on development rather than secrets and bloodshed.

He was cut off from his musing as he silently entered the bookshop, passing by the 'forbidden' section, he entered the shop at the back and as usual, Maru was deep into…a car. Ho, that commission would make Maru happy for a week or two, maybe giving him a chance to give Tsunade's counterpart a date into some restaurant in the mid sector.

Taking slow steps towards the still busy Maru, Kakashi loudly knocked at the hood of the car, "Yo," and as usual the red-haired jumped in surprise, cursing with the same line of insult whenever he was caught unaware.

"Kakashi! You stupid brat, how many times have I told not to do that!?" Maru complains while nursing his head as Kakashi gave him an eyes mile.

"Maa, you told me to announce my presence before talking to you Maru, and I did," he replied giving an air of innocence at his reply.

"Yeah, for the reason that you won't have a jump at me, but technicality seems to be your middle name," Maru grumbled. "And I'm getting second thoughts about you being my apprentice right now."

Kakashi feigns hurt at the words. "That's just mean Maru, I'm being a good apprentice right now." he hummed cheerily as he held the takeout container. "See? I even got you some food."

Before he could hide back the container, Maru grabbed the food out of his hands, faster than what he expected. The swipe eerily reminded of Kakashi about the man's counterpart, Orochimaru, he hid the shiver in his spine as he walked towards the car. The type was a pretty old one, maybe the oldest, he mused as he glances at the code type near the hood. He gave a low whistle at what he read.

"Is this part car collection?" he asked looking back at Maru who was eating his meal by the window.

"Yeah-" came out a muffled reply before Maru swallowed the food he was chewing, not bothered that Kakashi already knew the gist of his recent commission. "Got a client that wants it restored."

"I thought we only do "repairs"." Kakashi mused, pointing out air quotes along the way, as he walked around the car, noting the faded color of the paint.

"Well if you look at it with another angle restoring is kinda like repairing." Maru mused and continued to stuff his mouth with food. "Besides money is money."

Kakashi tilted his head at the response and shrugged. "…Point." he finally agreed as he opened the door checking the interior and found it off that the texture reminded him of leather.

"This is synthetic right?" he asked, taking a closer look at the faded color, remembering that animal products that were only allowed in the city are limited to food and medicinal products, anything besides those was considered illegal.

"I have no idea, and besides that's a thirty-year-old car, some big shot might've replaced the interior in the past," Maru replied a bit of food in his mouth as he spoke.

"Maa, can't do anything about that, ne?" he muttered as he stepped out of the car. "Well what's my part for this job?" he watched as Maru stared off in the distance for a few moments.

"Well, you could do the wiring for the lights and the gadgets inside." Maru started. "And maybe you'll do the paint job in the next week or so, I'm still waiting for some part for the hovers as well as it's charging port."

Kakashi hummed in agreement, he could do with the tech and the electrical aspects of the car, and paint job… well, he wasn't an artist but maybe he can get Sherry's opinion on what color to use. He plucks out the devices from the dashboard and stared at the layers of dust gathered under it, some of the wirings were chewed off, while others were past their prime.

"Maa, Maru," he called out not looking away from the layers of dust he has to clean up. "How much is the budget for this commission?"

"A thousand bucks, why you ask?" Maru replied.

"Oh nothing, just better hand me some money for later, the wirings here are good as dead," he replied nonchalantly dragging his finger at the interior of the dashboard and grimaced at the greasy feeling on his skin. He then checked the gadgets that were installed, "...you got a list of preferences for the gadgets?"

A thousand bucks were still way too cheap for this kind of restoration. Kakashi has no idea how Maru thinks a thousand was worth the work they would do. He heard the man's footsteps walk towards his position, "Here, he needs some interior enhancements and a mix of..." Maru's words trailed off. "Better yet, I'll just call the client." the read-head spoke after heaving out a heavy sigh.

* * *

Kiba grinned as he stood by the truck that was loading up the still sleeping wolf, the canine was huge but the bigger reward will be caught in the future, for now, they have a bait. "Alright boys, lock him up in the underground and sound-proof it as much as you can."

A vibration in his pocket took his attention and Kiba, answered it and with a small hologram, Shin's image appeared irate, despite his eyes being hidden by his sunglasses.

"You better retrieve those drones Kiba." the man spoke with a hidden tone of anger in his voice. Kiba knew had stepped a bit overboard earlier when he took off abruptly after getting the call that their goons manage to capture the wolf, he left his cousin to do all the drones control all by himself.

"Ye-yeah, er, sorry… but you did tell me to have a Plan C." Kiba replied albeit hesitant.

"Fuck the Plan C, you idiot! All of the drones went down and only three of them have intact location chips, left. You better retrieve them and repair those with your own money or I'm telling Conan about this!" Shin threatened.

"Oh don't you dare bring her into this, asshole!" Kiba answered with as much anger as he could, although deep down his heart skipped a beat the mention of the woman.

"Oh, I will." Shin glared at him. "We still need those drones for the next operation."

"Tsk!" Kiba clicked grabbing a pack of smokes in his pocket and quickly taking a drag. "Fine you geek, I'll get your toys," he added and closed the live call. He finished his smoke as he watched the rest of the goons pack up their materials.

"Vic, you're coming with me we're going to retrieve some drones," he orders as he took a seat on his hoverbike, on second thought the one he took might be Shin's. hiding a grimace at another expected sermon. Kiba turned on his ride and watched Joey drove off the truck through the dirt path while Tito groggily followed with their torn up ride.

A hologram appeared as Kiba typed the input adjustment to the hoverbike, he watched as a small offshoot segment of the bike disengages from the main body and with the sound of servos a makeshift container was inserted at the side of the bike like a side cart. Vic stared at it and Kiba watched as the man inwardly debated at the sight of his seat.

"That or a getting your ass cooked by the exhaust," he spoke.

Vic eyed the speed exhaust behind the bike noticing the reddish glow it has due to the heat and back at the small space of the side cart. Biting back a sigh Vic gingerly sat on the side cart feeling like the place was meant to be for a child because it was just so cramped.

* * *

Just what was he thinking? Elana growled as she leaped through the branches. She had finished hunting those drones and destroying them for nearly an hour ago…maybe more, the chase had covered enough distance that she belatedly realized that she ended up in their new territory, not that she minds. But right now her thoughts were rapidly circling on her pup's whereabouts, her reply was howled half an hour ago and Arashi would usually reply as soon as he hears it, but so far Elana didn't hear one.

Many things could have prevented Arashi from howling back and Elana did not like even one idea that passed through her thoughts. She reached the edge of her territory and leaped the treetops, bursting through the leaves as she eyed the wisps of smoke that was still billowing in the wind. Jumping back on the branches down below she continued her trek back to their den, her speed gaining more by the second.

She wished that Silver was here, the human would have a better plan when it comes to these types of things, after all, there's a wide difference from how wolves and humans think. Nevertheless, she did try to keep up with the boy's line of thought, getting as far as learning how to trap their prey. Like wolves, they had an ingrained knowledge that their best way of getting food was to tire out their prey, long-distance hunt as what Silver explained. But as time had gone by Silver showed them other stratagems, explaining each of their benefits, even citing some of their fellow predator's way of hunting such as ambush and tracking. Other times, Silver showed them creative trapping, as he fondly likes to call it, and not one of his plans failed.

Needless to say, Elana adapted to those tactics as much as she can, mostly on animals such as the apes in their turf. She remembered one tactic that they used to capture one of their rarely hunted prey, a chimp. Their population was going up with how they frequently mate, it took them a week how to effectively kill a fourth of their population just so they won't eat all of the vegetation. The plan was simple, Silver would create a mist that would cover one the small territory of the monkeys and he'll pick one of the fruit-bearing trees where he'll create illusions of fruits (Elana was still baffled how the human created them) that would entice the nearby chimps. It took an hour of waiting and watching as the amount chimps trying to grasp nothing, reached their intended amount and then they were off. Silently hunting the chimps that were not trapped by the fruity illusion, killing them with little to no noise as possible and dropping their kill on the ground where Arashi could collect them.

It was an ingenious tactic, just-

Metal claws dragged deep through the bark of the trees as Elana collected her balance.

Just like what is happening to them.

A distraction.

Fury and worry coiled in her belly as she took off again, pushing her limits until she reached their den. The smoke was now wispy but it was now scattered all over the area. Taking a sniff Elana manage to catch a small scent of her pup outside of the treeline, she tried following it but the more she tried to locate Arashi's trail the more the scent of her pup disappears. Growling at the lack of progress, Elana continued her search and finally saw Arashi's footprints. She followed the steps as it directed towards the origin of the smoke.

Another growl escaped her maws as she saw the tire tracks on the clearing, the smoke was still billowing out from the small fires scattered about Elana searched the area failing to find neither a scent nor a hair of her son. Worry growing by the second Elana continued to follow Arashi's footsteps, not far ahead she saw another object that made her blood run cold.

A gun, one she specifically knew that would render any animal asleep within minutes.

* * *

Kakashi hummed as walked through an isle of spare parts in one of the electronic shops in the sector, it had taken a better of an hour to clean away the dust in that dashboard and he regretted not bringing an extra shirt. Glancing down at the array of dust marks on his clothes, he tried and once again to pat the dirt away and same as before the dirt stayed on, sighing in defeat he returned to his chore of looking for any electrical wiring he could use for his 'training'.

Humming a few verses of haiku in his old world- an odd habit he started when his thoughts ran wildly. He turned to next aisle and saw a basket of wiring, he made a quick check of the quality and nodded idly in satisfaction. He grabbed a few odd ones and left them behind as he took the whole basket and walked back to the counter.

A teen manned the station, a girl to be exact, he gave a once over and after scanning his thoughts whether the female was familiar or not. It came out negative and he gave a short exhale at the result, inwardly he was glad that there were no more counterparts he met after his enrollment, any more then he might start cursing whoever deity that decided to drop him there. Placing the basket on the counter, Kakashi gave an eye smile.

"Yo, how much for these?" he asked hand already grabbing his wallet and readied his payment.

"All of it?" the teen asked raising an eyebrow at the amount of wiring before her.

"Aa." Kakashi replied monotonously.

The two of them shared a look, Kakashi inwardly hoping that the girl won't give out more questions. Thankfully she didn't and Kakashi took 50 out of his pocket and gave it to the girl. After packing his goods, Kakashi walked out of the store more cheery at the lack of interaction. He was still somewhat socially inept in some instances and Kakashi was not bother by it, back in his old life he was worse, always late and more…he paused as he turned around the corner, thinking of the right word to describe his bad habits.

We'll awkward…he mused as he continued his walk, late and awkward, he got better throughout the latter point in his life after he was traumatized by Team 7 mostly he fault them with the Naruto with how…energetic the boy was and maybe Sakura too with how strict the girl was when she's on duty within the hospital. Along with being a hokage for a short time, his social ineptness had lowered a bit after that. A pang of guilt and homesickness throbbed inside his body as he remembered them, remembered Konoha. Belatedly he realized that Naruto and Sakura of his old world were now in their early forties. It's been nearly a decade since he arrived here.

The thought made him freeze, nearly dropping his package.

A decade.

He's been here for nearly a decade.

A myriad of thoughts suddenly burst through his mind, gaining more and more speed in an unending cycle of despair as his emotions raged wildly in his heart like a broken dam. He could tell that his breathing was getting quick, and his hand was starting to shake. Kakashi turned around looking for a place to hide, but eyes strayed and saw some people looking at him oddly. Shaking he took a step and another, he kept the small mantra on his head, trying to drown out the emotions and the thoughts with a simple order to his body to move.

By the time he reached Maru's shop he could feel that he was nearing his limit, the emotions and thoughts were proving to be more difficult to control this time even the waterworks were getting out of hand. He manages to let out a sardonic chuckle as he tried valiantly wipe away the tears, but it just kept coming.

"Kid?" Maru's voice called and Kakashi hastily tried to clamp down his emotion as he could hear the man walking at the other side of the door.

"A-aa." it wasn't working, and Kakashi started to panic at the idea of Orochimaru's counterpart seeing him like this. He might be comfortable around Maru, but there were lines he would not step over just because he was having one of his episodes.

He stepped back and hid by the small alcove at the side of Maru's shop and with a small puff of smoke and a shunshin he was now blearily looking down at his clone who was giving him a morose yet understanding look. A two-fingered salute was all the clone did before his copy went inside the shop. Kakashi sighed as he laid down at the rooftop of the shop, he wiped away the tears again and as he painstakingly clamped down the emotions bit by bit. It took him nearly half an hour before he could breathe clearly, and another half before the tears slowed down.

It was getting worse, he mused, somewhat numb at what he was feeling -the tiredness, the ache in his heart, the pain that never leaves…it was a part of him and Kakashi wished he could just drown in it and never leave. The episodes were getting worse, and it came out randomly without any warning. Especially when he was alone where his mind would run rampant without a lid as his eyes stared at the happy counterparts of the people he once knew, memories and reality hovering over the other. There were times that he manages to stop his train of thoughts, usually distracting himself with the conversation or small zap on his thighs whenever he caught himself in the downward spiral.

…

But…a decade...

A loud thump echoed as Kakashi dropped the back his head on the roof none too gently stopping his train of thoughts. The pain helped to regain his focus "Stupid…idiotic." he muttered, loathing at how broken he was and that there was nothing that could fix him.

He did met old- no...new people, but no matter how he rationalize that it was okay, that they could sooth his mental wounds, that they would accept him. Yet, despite his self assurance, Kakashi knew that deep down that none of them would understand...he was alone here after all.

"Kami, why me?"

* * *

The silence in the workshop made Maru anxious, not that he was familiar with the lack of sound, but more so on Kakashi being silent. Neither a peep nor a greeting after the kid entered earlier after buying the wirings, it was as if Kakashi was just psychically present yet mentally absent. He took the time to glance back at Kakashi, thinking of any reason why the kid seemed to be suddenly drawn in on himself. It was making him worry, and he has no idea what to do.

Sam had once told him about the kid's 'sometimes' odd behavior of running out of nowhere without any warning, the little genius used the same excuse of getting an allergy attack but Samantha told him the boy never had any mark on his medical records. They knew that Kakashi was hiding something, most of the adults do whenever they had some gathering of some sort- they did not directly talk about the kid's behavior but they just…knew something was wrong. Whenever Kakashi would look at them like they were a ghost or spoke to them with a depth of a sorrowful and broken man, filled with regret that made them felt that they need to apologize to the kid. They never got to say it despite not knowing why, because as if a switch was flipped Kakashi would be back to his old self like nothing happened.

Like a lid quickly put on without any regard that its contents were overflowing.

But they have no idea how they're going to get Kakashi to open up.

A sudden roar of engines snapped him out of the musing and despite how small he reacted, Maru dropped the wrench on his feet and the pain made the torrent of curses rush out of his mouth.

'Right on the toenail'. He thought as he limped his way back to the book shop, although he did not get halfway when Kakashi spoke.

"Maa, I'll get it, Maru." the tone was light but there were no emotions in Kakashi's eyes as he dragged a chair towards him. "Go tend that foot of yours and maybe your mouth too, you sound like a sailor."

"Brat," Maru replied unable to banter back at the boy, he saw the hesitation in Kakashi's eyes letting him know that he knew that he caught his behavior.

He saw the kid inhale as if to add more, he blinked and the boy walked inside to the shop as if what he had seen didn't happen.

Maru was getting confused and worried, but the pain on his toe took his attention away from the brat for the moment. "Son a bitch, I hate customized hovers."

* * *

Kakashi stared at the sky keeping his thoughts to a bare minimum as his fingers idly traced the outline of the clouds. He's calm, but he's not trusting himself to have a conversation for the moment so he kept himself busy for the past hour or so. His ears perked as he heard a loud sound passing through the streets like an angry bull. Blinking at the noise, Kakashi stood up and silently peeked over the road down below.

It was a hoverbike and heavily customized too if the sound and the little side car has anything to go by. He watched as the pair of men entered the shop below with knapsack and Kakashi heard his copy giving a greeting. He moved near the window, still hiding on the rooftop as he listened to the conversation below.

"Hey kid, where's the mechanic?" A gruff, almost rowdy voice demanded and Kakashi heard a loud series of thunk- the bag, he guessed.

"He's…he's working on a commission." the copy replied and Kakashi raised a brow at the small pause in his voice.

"Alright." the gruff voice droned out. "Well, I got some drones in need of repair-" another loud thunk, maybe the guy was showing a sample. "-and I need it fixed in three days."

There's a moment of eerie silence as his clone did not reply for nearly a minute. Kakashi was curious but froze when a sudden bout of killing intent drowned the whole building for the moment, just as quick as it came it disappeared. Breathing hitched, Kakashi walked back to the alcove as he heard his clone blurt out an excuse to ask Maru for the price range, he walked around the building, however, a sudden rush of memories came into his mind and Kakashi staggered down to his knees.

The conversation with Maru…

Kiba's counterpart…

A large bag…

And a drone…mangled to pieces and shows the familiar claw marks of…

Elana…

"It can't be…" he whispered as he jumped back to a nearby tree, and looked at the direction of Elana's forest, there was a small could of smoke at the distance and after molding some chakra to enhance his eyes Kakashi could now distinctly see that it was near their clearing.

"Shit," he cursed as he made a sign and another clone puffed into existence beside him. Nodding at his silent orders, the clone's body was suddenly covered in smoke transforming into his older black-haired version. A two-fingered salute and his clone melded into the shadows down below.

Kakashi chanced a peek down the garage window and saw his first clone talking with Maru. He watched at their silent interaction until the red hair walked back into his bookshop with an annoyed face and a limp. With the man gone, his clone finally directed his attention to him. Kakashi gave a few shorthand gestures, and the clone replied with the same albeit more longer gestures. It was their code from his ANBU days and he's the only one that could decode it in this world.

"Five hours…with two copies to spare," he mused as his brain wracked a visible plan for this unknown 'mission'. He made another series of gestures, ordering his clone that he'll only get one clone to disperse for an update, and reserve his chakra for the travel back home if the situation with Elana would turn out for the worse.

He huffed at his clone when his copy replied with a petulant movement in his gesture, stating a list of reasons why his plan was a bad idea in general. Despite agreeing at those points, Kakashi was adamant to be away from the civilization for the moment his recent episode has damaged his walls -heck all of his episodes still have some scars left on his mentality- and knew that nothing would catch him when he falls deep into his thoughts again, and he knew that his clone knew of it too.

He shrugged motioned for the clone to open the window. He took out his phone and threw it through the small space. His clone caught it easily and he gave him a look that eerily reminded him Naruto somehow. The clone gave one last series of sign and Kakashi huffed out a small chuckle.

He was sure that his common sense was transferred to that clone because what he was about to do would expose his true self to this world. That he was an anomaly… an abnormality in this world. But right now he doesn't care…he just wants to be himself for a moment, to be Hatake Kakashi of the old world.

Breathing in deep Kakashi, nodded at the silent words that his clone signed to him.

'Arrive home safely'

With a shunshin, he was gone.

* * *

"...is that so?" the kid asked, eyes curling upwards.

Every fine hair in his body rose into goosebumps, Kiba could not comprehend what just happened, the sudden change in temperature made his skin crawl and he could not contain the shiver that wrecked his body. A loud thump echoed behind him and he glanced back at Vic who staggered towards the bookshelves for support.

"What the fuck hap-" Kiba loudly proclaimed before being cut off as he turned around to steady his goon.

"Ah, sorry about that, the ventilation here is being repaired for the most part." the kid interrupted with an odd chirp in his voice. Kiba turned his head back to the kid but saw the small figure walking towards the backdoor. "I'll get the owner since we have yet to receive this kind of repair job."

Kiba could only gape at the rude attitude as his mind tries to catch up to his recent experience. "What the fuck…?" he muttered.

"Uh…um boss, I'll go outside," Vic announced, the goon visibly shaking by this moment. It would've been funny if Kiba was not experiencing the same thing.

"Yeah…yeah go guard the door…or something." he waved the man off.

It took minutes for the conversation to start and Kiba surrendered to his shaking legs as he sat on one of the stacks of books near the counter-before he heard the muffled conversation across the wall.

"I thought you'll handle it?" an annoyed voice started Kiba leaned closer to the opened door.

"Maa, if it was a normal repair job I could handle it." the kid replied, his tone far lighter than what he heard earlier.

"How abnormal could his commission be?" the annoying voice asked.

"As abnormal as drones being mangled by wildlife can be." the kid replied. "Besides your commission fee is out whack, you just don't have a system to it."

"Mangled? And don't insult my fees, it's perfectly normal."

"It's cheap."

Shit, Kiba silently cursed as he walked up to the drone, was the damage that obvious? Taking another look he saw nothing with obvious about it, he cleaned up as much of the saliva out of the gadget as well as blunted the edges where the metal claws broke through the exterior. So what did he missed?

"Alright, fine I'll take a look." the annoyed voice grumbled and Kiba prepared himself, pulling out the fake digital file that could get him out of suspicion. If only Shin was willing to repair the drones himself he could have been spared from this headache. But he deserves his cousin's ire...for now.

A head full of red hair entered the doorway as Kiba looked at the soot-stained man limp his way to the counter with a frown on his face.

"So…" the man started grabbing the mauled up drone on the counter as he began checking the damages tinkering the exterior and opening the panel to check the wiring inside, after a few minutes he continued. "What were you doing in the forest to get this drone banged up?"

Smoothly Kiba pulled out the holo-file, but paused when he saw the scarfed kid enter. "Uh...We're part of the Nature Statistic Organization, tasked to scout the nearby forest for any inconsistency in the wildlife population," he started quickly closing the hologram, as he saw the boy looked at the false document with focused eyes. "Three of our drones malfunctioned during their flight and we suspected that some territorial animal damaged them."

The red head hummed in thought and glance down to the kid beside him. Kiba was baffled how the man deferred to the boy unconsciously, it was odd. Kiba spared a glance at the kid and felt his legs lock up at the intense gaze placed on his by the boy, it was if his soul was being judged. Hiding a shiver at the sight Kiba forced himself to look back at the red hair.

"Hey brat, what do you think?" the man spoke seemingly snapping the boy out of his thoughts.

"Well, it fits the description." the boy replied giving an eye smile that creeps Kiba out, and suddenly his attention shifted to him. "Tell me uh…-"

"Kiba"

The boy blinked tilting his head slightly. "-Kiba how long have you been scouting the forest?"

"Uh…three weeks?" Kiba asked suddenly unsure of what was happening.

"How long is your assignment in these areas?"

Pressured by the intense gaze, Kiba spoke the truth. "A-a month at least."

"How wide is the coverage of your operation?"

What? Kiba thought, is he being interrogated!? "At least ten-ten miles...?"

"Does this scouting covers the forests surrounding the higher sectors or were you just scouting the lower ones?"

What kind of answer am I going to say to that? Kiba panicked mouth quivering as his mind ran a mile a minute for an answer. "It's the surr-"

The freaky kid tilted his head to the side and eyes suddenly narrowed into a smile. "Uhuh, Can we have a copy of your document?"

"What? No!" Kiba shouted the volume of his voice snapping him out of the pressure he felt.

"Why?"

"It's-..it's illegal to give out a copy." he stuttered, running out of replies at the barrage of question.

A snort interrupted their one-on-one and Kiba was grateful for the interruption.

"The heck you doing brat?" the man chuckled. "You sound like some kind of detective."

Kiba watched as the kid blinked and saw warmth seemingly seeping back into the eyes.

"Maa, I was just curious about his work."

"I wish you have that curiosity when you're doing your apprenticeship. I rarely get that kind of questions from you" the red head replied flippantly. "Anyway, are the damage the same to the other drones?"

It nearly took a minute for Kiba to recollect himself before he could give out a reply. The man seemingly noticed this and added: "You don't have to worry about Kakashi, he's weird like that."

'Weird my ass,' Kiba inwardly replied, 'That kid is mental.'

"Yeah, the damages are the same, although some parts might be worse for wear." Kiba finally spoke.

"Well, we do have some spare parts for the exterior but we might weld it to the drone, which means that it'll have additional weight." the man started his on the spot inspection. "Longer rotors might be needed for the drones to fully take flight."

"Okay." Kiba nodded.

"Also the interior is a mess, we might repair the wirings but I have no idea about the circuit boards since it seems like this is customized." the man finished, a frown on his face.

"Yeah, about that I have a tech that can fix that so all you need to do is get the interior fixed up and also the wiring," Kiba replied.

"Are you sure? I can't guarantee that the repairs would turn out right if we can't test its functionality by the end of the deadline." the red hair said, an eyebrow raised at him. "I hate getting an underhanded commission, Mr. Kiba."

"Don't we all?" Kiba huffed, ignoring the narrowing eyes of the mechanic. "Fine, I'll get the circuit board fixed by the third day and get it you so you can test it. Sounds like a deal?"

"You got that brat?"

"...Aa"

Kiba blinked as he saw the kid raise a phone with a recording app on the screen.

"The fuck- you're recording this!?"

"Language, I got kid apprentice here." the man chastised. "And this is just a precaution. I hate to go to small claims for getting underhanded payment. I promise that we'll delete it after we finished the commission. So, do we have a deal?" the man added holding out a hand.

"Tsk, fine," Kiba grumbled as he shook the hand.

"The name's Maru."

"Alright, so Maru, how much for the repair?"

"25 bucks each."

Kiba blinked as heard an amused huff from the kid.

"That's cheap!"

"Told ya old man."

"Shut up, brat."

_~Shift_

It's a cover-up, clone Kakashi deduced as he placed the drones back on his working table he took a screwdriver and began manually dismantling it. The Kiba of this world covered his tracks well but one thing that made him sure that the man's excuse earlier was a lie- aside from the anxiety and stutter in the man's reply- was because he could smell Elana's scent on all of the drones. Elana, despite her territorial tendency, has experienced enough human activity in her turf that she knew when to ignore it and when not to.

…Unless provoked…

Clone Kakashi hummed at the thought as he pulled out the circuit board of the drone and began dismantling the next one.

But as far as he knew, Elana never did react this viciously, especially to a drone. Since there were nature enthusiasts who sometimes used those to scan the treetops once or twice a month, and Elana usually ignored them after stalking the drones for a quarter of an hour or two.

So what triggered her to destroy it?

Clone Kakashi sighed when his genius mind came up with nothing, how useless could he be right now? Scratching he head in mild irritation, he continued his work hoping that the original Kakashi would give some update so he could clear out his thoughts.

* * *

Kakashi could feel the small drain in his chakra reserves as he flickered through the greenery of the Vertical Farms of Sector 19-20, making sure to use the paths where cameras were rarely pointed at. He would usually take the train for the long travel but his body kept fidgeting, and the tension inside made it worse with his mind rapidly throwing out nonsensical thoughts, which gave him more reason to fidget. It was a cycle that would've made him crazy, but as he kept flickering, the chakra drain somehow kept his senses afloat.

He reached the edge of the sector, his scarf already soaked with sweat, and immediately and stealthily took off into the forest. The branches beneath his feet and the dancing leaves above him gave him calmness, the familiar feeling was so much like Konoha…

Kakashi shook his head, burrowing the thought back into the depth of his mind.

He was just a mile away from their clearing when Kakashi paused, looking down at the bushes below him and saw the small wisps of smoke. He eyed it more carefully and he unconsciously wrapped his scarf twice around his lower face and took off. As he leaped through the tree he gave a coded pulse of chakra, signaling Elana and Arashi of his arrival, it took a minute or two before a howl echoed through the trees, Kakashi frown when he took note of the tone in the howl. It was a call for a regroup.

Odd, why would Elana make that call…unless…

A sudden foreboding feeling crept up in Kakashi's being, he began to quicken his pace until he reached his destination.

When he reached the clearing, and as he expected, it was empty. Kakashi edged around the treeline, seeing the smoke was denser in the area-nearly half of the height of the tree- made him more cautious. The smoke was far from being a regular one, too dense and humid, it felt like he was staring at a ninjutsu or something.

He was snapped out of thoughts when another powerful howl echoed through the trees, the sound reverberating through his bones and Kakashi knew the message behind it, this time it was a call for a 'hunt' and other times they used it for 'search'. It was then, that Kakashi realized that he never heard Arashi's reply.

Getting worried, Kakashi directly went to Elana's position all the while pulsing out his chakra in a coded message announcing that he was close. It took a few minutes and he noticed that the intensity of the smoke was getting worse. He took off to the top of the trees, lest he was engulfed by it, circling the cloud-like smoke looming over his frame until he reached the point of origin.

A small clearing and it was filled with that odd smoke.

"Elana!" he called out and heard a bark down below, a few meters upwind of the smoke. He was glad and worried at the same time. Glad that Elana was safe and worried because Arashi has yet to howl his reply.

Seeing that the area was clear from any smoke, Kakashi jumped down and was suddenly greeted by the large snout of Elana. The bio-mech began to sniff at him and Kakashi found the greeting odd.

"Elana? Where-" he was suddenly nipped by the wolf, it was a gentle one but it gave the message.

Behave.

Feeling like a child again Kakashi stood still and let Elana do her inspection. He found the action nostalgic as his old pack does their own near invasive inspection whenever he was recuperating from a retreat. It took a few more minutes of mothering before Elana took a step back, looked at him and gave a whine like growl.

"What's the matter?" Kakashi asked.

If only the wolves can speak like Pakkun, communication between them would have been a blessing. Although they can clearly understand another on some level, it still took some time for Kakashi to know what the wolves were trying to convey.

Elana barked, then a chuff. Kakashi blinked and watched as Elana walked up to him and give a long sniff.

"Smell?" Kakashi guessed.

Elana nodded, pointing her snout at the smoke and slowly shook her head in the simplest way of conveying 'no'.

"You can't smell?" Elana nodded at his answer.

Kakashi made a bunshin and watched as his copy entered the cloud of smoke without his scarf covering his nose. The clone came out moments later and slowly walked towards the nearby trees picking up leaves and bark and held it before his head. He watched as his clone gave a negative and puffed out of existence. Kakashi was inwardly glad that he did not ignore his instinct earlier.

The small memory made Kakashi wince. A chemical suppressant, this does not bode well for any animals in the area.

Kakashi made a series of had signs already thinking of what ninjutsu to use and how much chakra he needed to dissipate the smoke harmlessly. As he finished the last sign he lowered his scarf and a sudden gale of wind burst from his mouth. It took a form of a small tornado and he watched as the smoke was suddenly absorbed into the swirling mass of air. He jumped above and repeated it three more times.

Clearing out the mile-wide of chemical smoke.

Now that their sights were not obscured, Kakashi's stomach dropped when he saw the tire tracks(which was rare-something he could take advantage of- since most vehicles were now hovers), the two pairs of shoe prints as well as Arashi's paw prints, he took note of every detail he could see. As a tracker, Kakashi could already deduce what happened hours earlier, from the pacing of Arashi knew that he took his time to put out the fire with dirt, as well as the shallow dips in the grass between the tire marks, where he knew that the 2 people hid under their parked vehicle.

He took a few more steps and looked at the misplaced dirt as Arashi jumped, glancing at the surrounding trees Kakashi did not see any of Arashi's mark on any bark nor branches. Tilting his head he assumed that the wolf jumped atop of the vehicle. Checking the area more, he saw metals mauled off from the car frame and small shards of glass.

Arashi had reacted violently and based on the prints by the edge of the trees he could see where the humans ran off to- a sudden clank of metal snapped him out of his thoughts and Kakashi saw Elana growling at the object she dropped.

Kakashi froze.

* * *

Snippet 3: Routine

Kakashi's usual routine on weekdays was to wake up 5 am in the morning, start his daily kata for an hour and a morning stretch that would usually end when his mother would open his door during a mid split and announcing that breakfast would be ready in an hour. The next part, would be taking a long hot shower while reading up on his classes -honestly holograms are such a time saver- and during that time Kumo would enter his room and would usually input his uniform so his closet would automatically iron it for him.

He had computed it once in the past and this 'automation' would essentially save 30 minutes of daily time- 3 hours if clothes were prepped in bulk, yes, he did try to input the closet to prepare that much (well everyone's) clothes...on a school day. And yes, they were late.

Ah the chaos.

Blinking away the memory, Kakashi toweled off as he quickly changed to his uniform, one thing that he liked about weekdays were the routines, the small things in daily life that he could drone into without any worry, it's nearly similar to his ANBU days, well..aside from the grueling missions...and the blood and nearly everything else, but the most important thing was that it routine.

It was something familiar that could find comfort from the chaos of his mind.

"Kashi." his father's voice announced followed by a soft knock on the wall.

"Almost done." he replied as he drape the attachable necktie on his shoulder. He glanced back at the mirror combing his hair with his fingers deeming himself clean enough he pocketed a pair of medical masks and went out of the bathroom.

"Morning Dad." he greeted and by routine Sakumo ruffled his hair.

"Hmm, you seem to be getting taller Kashi." his father commented his hand bouncing in the air as if he remembered his height just by that gesture alone.

"Maa, I'm not going to stay this short forever dad." he hummed happy 'someone' finally notice his growth.

Sakumo chuckled. "Still..."

"Breakfast is going cold boys hurry up, it's almost 7." Tamashi called out as they walked out of the hallway.

As per routine, they ate their breakfast, made small talks, and by 8 take the elevator down, gave their goodbyes and take cares, and went on to their work place. Tamashi to her office, Sakumo to his lab, and Kakashi would take the train to his school.

Being late is a part of his routine, his class would start at 9 and he would usually come in late by 15 mins (the maximum allowable lateness) which means he has enough time to do his newfound hobby.

Getting lost.

Not that it was a possibility with how much technology there are today.

Kakashi stopped before the train station and looked around. The crowd was getting thick as the morning peak hour is nearing, and as part of his routine he stepped forward and went with the flow. He would usually waste his time window shopping and observing the crowd, following the foot traffic without any direction. 7 out 10 times, he would usually end five or three blocks away from his university, other times he need to take the train because he went too far from the center of the sector, and this day it seems it was the latter.

He stared at the signage on the corner street.

"Maa..." he mused as he checked his watch and saw that he was already near the west edge of the 3rd sector. "Guess I'll check this area after class." he commented as he looked at the surrounding buildings, when he suddenly saw a familiar balloon like figure.

"Is that...?" Kakashi trailed off as he saw the pair of brothers run along the street, their nurse bot awkwardly following behind them. He shook his head, those two were always running late, well maybe not as late as him, but they were contenders in tardiness. Kakashi bit back a chuckle when he saw the nurse bot trip and roll like a ball for a few seconds before being dragged by the younger brother.

-wait a second...

_~Shift_

"This is the seventh time, Hatake and you two." Samantha Glass snapped, vein twitching as she continued her sermon. "Are you following his steps!?"

The Hamada brothers sheepishly rub their necks in tandem and Kakashi could only tilt his head with how sync those two are.

"No ma'am we overslept." the younger one, Hiro spoke up.

"What he meant to say, ma'am ,was that he's that one that overslept and it took me more than an hour to wake up him." Tadashi added nudging his brother with a grin, not at all perturbed by an angry principal.

"And you?" Samantha added eyes narrowing at his direction.

"I got lost." Kakashi replied eyes curving up.

"I am not going to believe such another lie Hatake, I know that you know that I won't be lenient with your tardiness this year and this is your 7th time of missing the 15 minute allowance. So-"

"Excuse me principal." a robotic voice echoed interrupting the blonde. "If I may be allowed to interject, that student was within our street at 08:54 am."

Eyebrows were raised and Kakashi hummed as the nurse bot without prompt, opened a hologram on his balloon like chest and showed a short video of him standing by the corner, looking for all the viewers like a lost puppy.

"Maa, I told you I got lost."

"Unbelievable"

* * *

**And I don't own Big Hero Six.**

**There.**

**So as for more author notes. **

**Due to the Corona Lockdown, work was cancelled no events for a month (I still got backlogs but no pay-oh my poor wallet- for a while since income is low with how many wedding were cancelled/postponed). On a silver lining I got time to write, so I'm posting this chapter for you readers to enjoy. I won't be updating for a while since I need to re-calibrate my brain back to the story's timeline, and write two or three chapters before posting the next one just to keep the plot intact. **

**That's all, reviews motivates me :) **

**Be safe everyone! We'll overcome this pandemic just keep it clean and follow the medically approved protocols as much as possible.**


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